THE 
MASTER, 

R.OGUE 


DAVID 
GRAHAM 
PHILLIPS 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF 
CALIFORNIA 
SANTA   CRUZ 


SANTA  CRUZ 


SANTA  CRUZ 


&. 


THE   MASTER  ROGUE 


OTHER    BOOKS    BY 
DAVID    GRAHAM    PHILLIPS 


r 


The  Great  God  Success,  Her  Serene  Highness 

A   Woman  Ventures 

Golden  Fleece 


**  The  razor  cut  me  a/td  dropped  to  the  floor" 


THE     MASTER-ROGUE 

The  Confessions  of  a  Croesus 

By 

David  Graham  Phillips 
Illustrated  by  Gordon  H.    Grant 


McClure,    Phillips    $    Co. 

New    York 

1903 


COPYRIGHT,  1903,  BY 
McCLURE,  PHILLIPS  A  CO 


Published.  September,  1903 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 


The  Razor  cut  me,  and  dropped  to  the  floor  " 

Frontispiece 


PACING 
PAGE 


" '  Don't  get  apoplectic,1  he    said,  calmly  ;  '  you 

know  you  stole  your  start "        .  .          .39 

You  liar  !  you  forger !  .          .          .          .73 

"  'Not  to  have  told  you  would  have  been  a  lie1"  119 

" '  You  will  marry  on  the  sixteenth  of  April,  at 

noon.     Get  yourself  ready ' 1        *          .          .129 

"  I  came  upon  Helen,  sitting  in  the  alcove,  sob 
bing"        .          .          .218 


THE  MASTER  ROGUE 


I 

I  cannot  remember  the  time  when  I  was  not 
absolutely  certain  that  I  would  be  a  million 
aire.  And  I  had  not  been  a  week  in  the  big 
wholesale  dry-goods  house  in  Worth  Street 
in  which  I  made  my  New  York  start,  before 
I  looked  round  and  said  to  myself:  "I  shall 
be  sole  proprietor  here  some  day." 

Probably  clerks  dream  the  same  thing  every 
day  in  every  establishment  on  earth — but  I 
didn't  dream;  I  knew.  From  earliest  boy 
hood  I  had  seen  that  the  millionaire  was  the 
only  citizen  universally  envied,  honoured,  and 
looked  up  to.  I  wanted  to  be  in  the  first  class, 
and  I  knew  I  had  only  to  stick  to  my  ambition 
and  to  think  of  nothing  else  and  to  let  nothing 
stand  in  the  way  of  it.  There  are  so  few  men 
capable  of  forming  a  definite,  serious  pur- 

[3] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

pose,  and  of  persisting  in  it,  that  those  who 
are  find  the  road  almost  empty  before  they 
have  gone  far. 

By  the  time  I  was  thirty-three  years  old  I 
had  arrived  at  the  place  where  the  crowd  is 
pretty  well  thinned  out.  I  was  what  is  called 
a  successful  man.  I  was  general  manager  of 
the  dry-goods  house  at  ten  thousand  a  year— 
a  huge  salary  for  those  days.  I  had  nearly 
sixty  thousand  dollars  put  by  in  gilt-edged 
securities.  I  had  built  a  valuable  reputation 
for  knowing  my  business  and  keeping  my 
word.  I  owned  a  twenty-five-foot  brown- 
sfone  house  in  a  side  street  not  far  from  Mad 
ison  Avenue,  and  in  it  I  had  a  comfortable, 
happy,  old-fashioned  home.  At  thirty-two  I 
had  gone  back  to  my  native  town  to  marry  a 
girl  there,  one  of  those  women  who  have  am 
bition  beyond  gadding  all  the  time  and  spend 
ing  every  cent  their  husbands  earn,  and  who 

[4] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

know  how  to  make  home  attractive  to  husband 
and  children. 

I  couldn't  exaggerate  the  value  of  my  fam 
ily,  especially  my  wife,  to  me  in  those  early 
days.  True,  I  should  have  gone  just  as  far 
without  them,  but  they  made  my  life  cheerful 
and  comfortable;  and,  now  that  sentiment  of 
that  narrow  kind  is  all  in  the  past,  it's  most 
agreeable  occasionally  to  look  back  on  those 
days  and  sentimentalise  a  little. 

That  I  worked  intelligently,  as  well  as  hard, 
is  shown  by  the  fact  that  I  was  made  junior 
partner  at  thirty-eight.  My  partner — there 
were  only  two  of  us — was  then  an  elderly  man 
and  the  head  of  the  old  and  prominent  New 
York  family  of  Judson — that  is  not  the  real 
name,  of  course.  Ours  was  the  typical  old- 
fashioned  firm,  doing  business  on  principles  of 
politeness  rather  than  of  strict  business.  One 
of  its  iron-clad  customs  was  that  the  senior 

[5] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

partner  should  retire  at  sixty.  Mr.  Judson's 
intention  was  to  retire  in  about  five  years,  I 
to  become  the  head  of  the  firm,  though  with 
the  smaller  interest,  and  one  of  his  grand 
sons  to  become  the  larger  partner,  though 
with  the  lesser  control — at  least,  for  a  term  of 
years. 

It  was  called  evidence  of  great  friendship 
and  confidence  that  Mr.  Judson  thus  "fa 
voured"  me.  Probably  this  notion  would  have 
been  stronger  had  it  been  known  on  what 
moderate  terms  and  at  what  an  easy  price  he 
let  me  have  the  fourth  interest.  No  doubt  Mr. 
Judson  himself  thought  he  was  most  generous. 
But  I  knew  better.  There  was  no  sentimen 
tality  about  my  ideas  of  business,  and  my  ex 
perience  has  been  that  there  isn't  about  any 
one's  when  you  cut  through  surface  courtesy 
and  cant  and  get  down  to  the  real  facts.  I 
knew  I  had  earned  every  step  of  my  promo- 

[6] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

tion  from  a  clerk;  and,  while  Mr.  Judson 
might  have  selected  some  one  else  as  a  partner, 
he  wouldn't  have  done  so,  because  he  needed 
me.  I  had  seen  to  that  in  my  sixteen  years 
of  service  there. 

Judson  wasn't  a  self-made  man,  as  I  was. 
He  had  inherited  his  share  in  the  business,  and 
a  considerable  fortune,  besides.  The  reason 
he  was  so  anxious  to  have  me  as  a  partner  was 
that  for  six  years  I  had  carried  all  his  business 
cares,  even  his  private  affairs.  Yes,  he  needed 
me — though,  no  doubt,  in  a  sense,  he  was  my 
friend.  Who  wouldn't  have  been  my  friend 
under  the  circumstances?  But,  having  looked 
out  for  his  own  interest  and  comfort  in  select 
ing  me,  why  should  he  have  expected  that  I 
wouldn't  look  out  for  mine?  The  only  kind 
of  loyalty  a  man  who  wishes  to  do  something 
in  the  world  should  give  or  expect  is  the  mu 
tual  loyalty  of  common  interest. 

[7] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

I  confess  I  never  liked  Judson.  To  be 
quite  frank,  from  the  first  day  I  came  into 
that  house,  I  envied  him.  I  used  to  think  it 
was  contempt;  but,  since  my  own  position  has 
changed,  I  know  it  was  envy.  I  remember 
that  the  first  time  I  saw  him  I  noted  his  hand 
some,  carefully  dressed  figure,  so  out  of  place 
among  the  sweat  and  shirt-sleeves  and  the  lit 
ter  of  goods  and  packing  cases,  and  I  asked 
one  of  my  fellow-clerks:  "Who's  that  fop?" 
When  he  told  me  it  was  the  son  of  the  pro 
prietor,  and  my  prospective  chief  boss,  I  said 
to  myself:  "It  won't  be  hard  to  get  you  out 
of  the  way;"  for  I  had  brought  from  the  coun 
try  the  prejudice  that  fine  clothes  and  fine 
manners  proclaim  the  noddle-pate. 

I  envied  my  friend — for,  in  a  master-and- 
servant  way,  that  was  highly,  though,  of 
course,  secretly  distasteful  to  me,  we  became 
friends.  I  envied  him  his  education,  his  in- 

[8] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

herited  wealth,  his  manners,  his  aristocratic 
appearance,  and,  finally,  his  social  position.  It 
seemed  to  me  that  none  of  these  things  that 
he  had  and  I  hadn't  belonged  of  right  to  him, 
because  he  hadn't  earned  them.  It  seemed  to 
me  that  his  having  them  was  an  outrageous 
injustice  to  me. 

I  think  I  must  have  hated  him.  Yes,  I  did 
hate  him.  How  is  it  possible  for  a  man  who 
feels  that  he  is  born  to  rule  not  to  hate  those 
whom  blind  fate  has  put  as  obstacles  in  his 
way?  To  get  what  you  want  in  this  world 
you  must  be  a  good  hater.  The  best  haters 
make  the  best  grabbers,  and  this  is  a  world  of 
grab,  not  of  "By  your  leave,"  or  "If  you'll 
permit  me,  sir."  You  can't  get  what  you 
want  away  from  the  man  who's  got  it  unless 
you  hate  him.  Gentle  feelings  paralyse  the 
conquering  arm. 

So,  at  thirty-eight,  it  seemed  to  be  settled 
[9] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

that  I  was  to  be  a  respectable  Worth  Street 
merchant,  in  active  life  until  I  should  be  sixty, 
always  under  the  shadow  of  the  great  Judson 
family,  and  thereafter  a  respectable  retired 
merchant  and  substantial  citizen  with  five  hun 
dred  thousand  dollars  or  thereabouts.  But  it 
never  entered  my  head  to  submit  to  that  sort 
of  decree  of  destiny,  dooming  me  to  re 
spectable  obscurity.  Nature  intended  me  for 
larger  things. 

The  key  to  my  true  destiny,  as  I  had  seen 
for  several  years,  was  the  possession  of  a  large 
sum  of  money — a  million  dollars.  Without  it, 
I  must  work  on  at  my  past  intolerably  slow 
pace.  With  it,  I  could  leap  at  once  into  my 
kingdom.  But,  how  get  it?  In  the  regular 
course  of  any  business  conducted  on  proper 
lines,  such  a  sum,  even  to-day,  rewards  the 
successful  man  starting  from  nothing  only 
when  the  vigour  of  youth  is  gone  and  the  hab- 
[10] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

its  of  conservatism  and  routine  are  fixed.  I 
knew  I  must  get  my  million  not  in  driblets, 
not  after  years  of  toil,  but  at  once,  in  a  lump 
sum.  I  must  get  it  even  at  some  temporary 
sacrifice  of  principle,  if  necessary. 

If  I  had  not  seen  the  opportunity  to  get  it 
through  Judson  and  Company,  I  should  have 
retired  from  that  house  years  before  I  got  the 
partnership.  But  I  did  see  it  there,  saw  it 
coming  even  before  I  was  general  manager, 
saw  it  the  first  time  I  got  a  peep  into  the  pri 
vate  affairs  of  Mr.  Judson. 

Judson  and  Company,  like  all  old-estab 
lished  houses,  was  honeycombed  with  careless 
ness  and  wastefulness.  To  begin  with,  it 
treated  its  employees  on  a  basis  of  mixed 
business  and  benevolence,  and  that  is  always 
bad  unless  the  benevolence  is  merely  an  in 
genious  pretext  for  getting  out  of  your  peo 
ple  work  that  you  don't  pay  for.  But  Mr. 

en] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

Judson,  having  a  good  deal  of  the  highfalut- 
ing  grand  seigneur  about  him,  made  the  be 
nevolence  genuine.  Then,  the  theory  was  that 
the  Judsons  were  born  merchants,  and  knew 
all  there  was  to  be  known,  and  did  not  need  to 
attend  to  business.  Mr.  Judson,  being  firmly 
convinced  of  his  greatness,  and  being  much 
engaged  socially  and  in  posing  as  a  great 
merchant  at  luncheons  and  receptions  to  dis 
tinguished  strangers  and  the  like,  put  me  in 
full  control  as  soon  as  he  made  me  general 
manager.  He  interfered  in  the  business  only 
occasionally,  and  then  merely  to  show  how 
large  and  generous  he  was — to  raise  salaries, 
to  extend  unwise  credits,  to  bolster  up  decay 
ing  mills  that  had  long  sold  goods  to  the  house, 
to  indorse  for  his  friends.  Friends!  Who 
that  can  and  will  lend  and  indorse  has  not 
hosts  of  friends?  What  I  have  waited  to  see 
before  selecting  my  friends  is  the  friendship 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

that  survives  the  death  of  its  hopes  of  favours 
—and  I'm  still  waiting. 

As  soon  as  I  became  partner  I  confirmed 
in  detail  the  suspicion,  or,  rather,  the  instinc 
tive  knowledge,  which  had  kept  me  from  look 
ing  elsewhere  for  my  opportunity. 

I  recall  distinctly  the  day  my  crisis  came. 
It  had  two  principal  events. 

The  first  was  my  discovery  that  Mr.  Judson 
had  got  the  firm  and  himself  so  entangled  that 
he  was  in  my  power.  I  confess  my  impulse 
was  to  take  a  course  which  a  weaker  or  less 
courageous  man  would  have  taken  —  away 
from  the  course  of  the  strong  man  with  the 
higher  ambition  and  the  broader  view  of  life 
and  morals.  And  it  was  while  I  seemed  to  be 
wavering — I  say  "seemed  to  be"  because  I  do 
not  think  a  strong,  far-sighted  man  of  reso 
lute  purpose  is  ever  "squeamish,"  as  they  call 
it — while,  I  say,  I  was  in  the  mood  of  uncer- 
[13] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

tainty  which  often  precedes  energetic  action, 
we,  my  wife  and  I,  went  to  dinner  at  the 
Judsons. 

That  dinner  was  the  second  event  of  my 
crucial  day.  Judson's  family  and  mine  did 
not  move  in  the  same  social  circle.  When 
people  asked  my  wife  if  she  knew  Mrs.  Jud- 
son — which  they  often  maliciously  did — she 
always  answered:  "Oh,  no — my  husband  keeps 
our  home  life  and  his  business  distinct;  and, 
you  know,  New  York  is  very  large.  The  Jud 
sons  and  we  haven't  the  same  friends."  That 
was  her  way  of  hiding  our  rankling  wound— 
for  it  rankled  with  me  as  much  as  with  her; 
in  those  days  we  had  everything  in  common, 
like  the  humble  people  that  we  were. 

I  can  see  now  her  expression  of  elation  as 

she  displayed  the  note  of  invitation  from  Mrs. 

Judson:  "It  would  give  us  great  pleasure  if 

you  and  your  husband  would  dine  with  us 

[14] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

quite  informally,"  etc.  Her  face  clouded  as 
she  repeated,  "quite  informally."  "They 
wouldn't  for  worlds  have  any  of  their  fash 
ionable  friends  there  to  meet  us."  Even  then 
she  was  far  away  from  the  time  when,  to  my 
saying,  "You  shall  have  your  victoria  and 
drive  in  the  park  and  get  your  name  in  the 
papers  like  Mrs.  Judson,"  she  laughed  and 
answered — honestly,  I  know — "We  mustn't 
get  to  be  like  these  New  Yorkers.  Our  happi 
ness  lies  right  here  with  ourselves  and  our  chil 
dren.  I'll  be  satisfied  if  we  bring  them  up  to 
be  honest,  useful  men  and  women."  That's 
the  way  a  woman  should  talk  and  feel.  When 
they  get  the  ideas  that  are  fit  only  for  men 
everything  goes  to  pot. 

But  to  return  to  the  Judson  dinner — my 

wife  and  I  had  never  before  been  in  so  grand 

a  house.     It  was,  indeed,  a  grand  house  for 

those  days,  though  it  wouldn't  compare  with 

[15] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

my  palace  overlooking  the  park,  and  would 
hardly  rank  to-day  as  a  second-rate  New  York 
house.  We  tried  to  seem  at  our  ease,  and  I 
think  my  wife  succeeded ;  but  it  seemed  to  me 
that  Judson  and  his  wife  were  seeing  into  my 
embarrassment  and  were  enjoying  it  as  evi 
dence  of  their  superiority.  I  may  have 
wronged  him.  Possibly  I  was  seeking  more 
reasons  to  hate  him  in  order  the  better  to  jus 
tify  myself  for  what  I  was  about  to  do.  But 
that  isn't  important. 

My  wife  and  I  were  as  if  in  a  dream  or  a 
daze.  A  whole,  new  world  was  opening  to 
both  of  us — the  world  of  fashion,  luxury,  and 
display.  True,  we  had  seen  it  from  the  out 
side  before;  and  had  had  it  constantly  before 
our  eyes ;  but  now  we  were  touching  it,  tasting 
it,  smelling  it — were  almost  grasping  it.  We 
were  unhappy  as  we  drove  home  in  our  ill- 
smelling  public  cab,  and  when  we  re- 
[16] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

entered  our  little  world  it  seemed  humble  and 
narrow  and  mean — a  ridiculous  fool's  para 
dise. 

We  did  not  have  our  customary  before- 
going-to-sleep  talk  that  night,  about  my  busi 
ness,  about  our  investments,  about  the  house 
hold,  about  the  children — we  had  two,  the 
boys,  then.  We  lay  side  by  side,  silent  and 
depressed.  I  heard  her  sigh  several  times,  but 
I  did  not  ask  her  why — I  understood.  Finally 
I  said  to  her:  "Minnie,  how'd  you  like  to  live 
like  the  Judsons?  You  know  we  can  afford 
to  spread  out  a  good  deal.  Things  have 
been  coming  our  way  for  twelve  years,  and 


soon " 


She  sighed  again.  "I  don't  know  whether 
I'm  fitted  for  it,"  she  said;  "I  think  all  those 
grand  things  would  frighten  me.  I'd  make 
a  fool  of  myself." 

It  amuses  me  to  recall  how  simple  she  was. 
[17] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

Who  would  ever  suspect  her  of  having  been 
so,  as  she  presides  over  our  great  establish 
ments  in  town  and  in  the  country  as  if  she 
were  born  to  it?  "Nonsense!"  I  answered. 
"You'd  soon  get  used  to  it.  You're  young 
yet,  and  a  thousand  times  better  looking  than 
fat  old  Mrs.  Judson.  You'll  learn  in  no  time. 
You'll  go  up  with  me." 

"I  don't  think  they're  as  happy  as  we  are," 
she  said.  "I  ought  to  be  ashamed  of  myself 
to  be  so  envious  and  ungrateful."  But  she 
sighed  again. 

I  think  she  soon  went  to  sleep.  I  lay  awake 
hour  after  hour,  a  confusion  of  thoughts  in 
my  mind — we  worry  a  great  deal  over  nice 
points  in  morals  when  we  are  young.  Then, 
suddenly,  as  it  seemed  to  me,  the  command  of 
destiny  came — "You  can  be  sole  master,  in 
name  as  well  as  in  fact.  You  are  that  business. 
He  has  no  right  there.  Put  him  out!  He  is 
[18] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

only  a  drag1,  and  will  soon  ruin  everything. 
It  is  best  for  him — and  you  must!" 

I  tossed  and  turned.  I  said  to  myself,  "No! 
No!"  But  I  knew  what  I  would  do.  I  was 
not  the  man  to  toil  for  years  for  an  object  and 
then  let  weakness  cheat  me  out  of  it.  I  knew 
I  would  make  short  shrift  of  a  flabby  and 
dangerous  and  short-sighted  generosity  when 
the  time  came. 

One  morning,  about  six  months  later,  Mr. 
Judson  came  to  me  as  I  was  busy  at  my  desk 
and  laid  down  a  note  for  five  hundred  thou 
sand  dollars,  signed  by  himself.  "It'll  be  all 
right  for  me  to  indorse  the  firm's  name  upon 
that,  won't  it?"  he  said,  in  a  careless  tone, 
holding  to  a  corner  of  the  note,  as  if  he  were 
assuming  that  I  would  say  "Yes,"  and  he 
could  then  take  it  away. 

A  thrill  of  delight  ran  through  me  at  this 
stretch  of  the  hand  of  my  opportunity  for 
[19] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

which  I  had  been  planning  for  years,  and  for 
which  I  had  been  waiting  in  readiness  for 
nearly  three  months.  I  looked  steadily  at  the 
note.  "I  don't  know,"  I  said,  slowly,  raising 
my  eyes  to  his.  His  eyes  shifted  and  a  hurt 
expression  came  into  them,  as  if  he,  not  I,  were 
refusing.  "I'm  busy  just  now.  Leave  it, 
won't  you?  I'll  look  at  it  presently." 

"Oh,  certainly,"  he  said,  in  a  surprised,  shy 
voice.  I  did  not  look  up  at  him  again,  but  I 
saw  that  his  hand — a  narrow,  smooth  hand, 
not  at  all  like  mine — was  trembling  as  he  drew 
it  away. 

We  did  not  speak  again  until  late  in  the 
afternoon.  Then  I  had  to  go  to  him  about 
some  other  matter,  and,  as  I  was  turning 
away,  he  said,  timidly:  "Oh,  about  that 
note " 

"It  can't  be  indorsed  by  the  firm,"  I  said, 
abruptly. 

[20] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

There  was  a  long  silence  between  us.  I  felt 
that  he  was  inwardly  resenting  what  he  must 
be  calling  the  insolence  of  the  "upstart"  he 
had  "created."  I  was  hating  him  for  the  con 
temptuous  thoughts  that  seemed  to  me  to  be 
burning  through  the  silence  from  his  brain  to 
mine,  was  hating  him  for  putting  me  in  a  false 
position  even  before  myself  with  his  plausible 
appearance  of  being  a  generous  gentleman — 
I  abhor  the  idea  of  "gentleman"  in  business; 
it  upsets  everything,  at  once. 

When  he  did  speak,  he  only  said:  "Why 
not?" 

I  went  to  my  desk  and  brought  a  sheet  of 
paper  filled  with  figures.  "I  have  made  this 
up  since  you  spoke  to  me  this  morning,"  I 
said,  laying  it  before  him. 

That  was  false — a  trifling  falsehood  to  pre 
vent  him  from  misunderstanding  my  conduct 
in  making  a  long  and  quiet  investigation. 
[21] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

The  truth  is  that  that  crucial  paper  was  the 
work  of  a  great  many  days,  and  not  a  few 
nights,  of  thought  and  labour — it  was  my  cast 
for  my  million. 

The  paper  seemed  to  show  at  a  glance  that 
the  firm  was  practically  ruined,  and  that  Mr. 
Judson  himself  was  insolvent.  It  was  to  a 
certain  extent  an  over-statement,  or,  rather,  a 
sort  of  anticipation  of  conditions  that  would 
come  to  pass  within  a  year  or  two  if  Mr.  Jud 
son  were  permitted  to  hold  to  his  course. 
While  in  a  sense  I  took  advantage  of  his  ig 
norance  of  our  business  and  his  own,  and  also 
of  his  lack  of  familiarity  with  all  commercial 
matters,  yet,  on  the  other  hand,  it  was  not 
sensible  that  I  should  tide  him  over  and 
carry  him,  and  it  was  vitally  necessary 
that  I  should  get  my  million.  Had  he 
been  shrewder,  I  should  have  got  it  anyhow, 
only  I  should  have  been  compelled  to  use 
[22] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

methods  that,  perhaps,  would  have  seemed  less 
merciful. 

I  sat  beside  him  as  he  read;  and,  while  I 
pitied  him,  for  I  am  human,  after  all,  I  felt 
more  strongly  a  sense  of  triumph,  that  I,  the 
poor,  the  obscure,  by  sheer  force  of  intellect, 
had  raised  myself  up  to  where  I  had  my 
foot  upon  the  neck  of  this  proud  man,  ranking 
so  high  among  New  York's  distinguished 
merchants  and  citizens.  I  have  had  many  a 
triumph  since,  and  over  men  far  superior  to 
Judson;  but  I  do  not  think  that  I  have  ever 
so  keenly  enjoyed  any  other  victory  as  this, 
my  first  and  most  important. 

Still,  I  pitied  him  as  he  read,  with  face 
growing  older  and  older,  and,  with  his  pride 
shot  through  the  vitals,  quivering  in  its  death 
agony.  I  said,  gently,  when  he  had  finished 
and  had  buried  his  face  in  his  hands:  "Now, 
do  you  understand,  Mr.  Judson,  why  I  won't 
[23] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

sign  away  my  commercial  honour  and  my 
children's  bread?" 

He  shrank  and  shivered,  as  if,  instead  of 
having  spoken  kindly  to  him,  I  had  struck 
him.  "Spare  me!"  he  said,  brokenly.  "For 
God's  sake,  spare  me!"  and,  after  a  moment, 
he  groaned  and  exclaimed:  "and  I — I — have 
ruined  this  house,  established  by  my  grand 
father  and  held  in  honour  for  half  a  century!" 
A  longer  pause,  then  he  lifted  his  haggard 
face — he  looked  seventy  rather  than  fifty-five; 
his  eyeballs  were  sunk  in  deep,  blue-black 
sockets;  his  whole  expression  was  an  awful 
warning  of  the  consequences  of  recklessness  in 
business.  I  have  never  forgotten  it.  "I  trust 
you,"  he  said;  "what  shall  I  do?" 

He  placed  himself  entirely  in  my  hands ;  or, 

rather,  he  left  his  affairs  where  they  had  been, 

except  when  he  was  muddling  them,  for  more 

than  six  years.     I  dealt  generously  by  him, 

[24] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

for  I  bought  him  out  by  the  use  of  my  excel 
lent  personal  credit,  and  left  him  a  small 
fortune  in  such  shape  that  he  could  easily 
manage  it.  He  was  free  of  all  business  cares; 
I  had  taken  upon  my  shoulders  not  only  the 
responsibilities  of  that  great  business,  but  also 
a  load  of  debt  which  would  have  staggered 
and  frightened  a  man  of  less  courageous 
judgment. 

I  did  not  see  him  when  the  last  papers  were 
signed — he  was  ill  and  they  were  sent  to  his 
house.  Two  or  three  weeks  later  I  heard  that 
he  was  convalescent  and  went  to  see  him. 
Now  that  he  was  no  longer  in  my  way,  and 
that  the  debt  of  gratitude  was  transferred 
from  me  to  him,  I  had  only  the  kindliest, 
friendliest  feelings  for  him.  Those  few  weeks 
had  made  a  great  change  in  me.  I  had  grown, 
I  had  come  into  my  own,  I  realised  how  high 
I  was  above  the  mass  of  my  fellow-men,  and 
[25] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

I  was  insisting  upon  and  was  receiving  the 
respect  that  was  my  due.  My  sensations,  as 
I  entered  the  Judsoii  house,  were  vastly  dif 
ferent  from  what  they  were  when  the  pom 
pous  butler  admitted  me  on  the  occasion  of 
the  one  previous  visit,  and  I  could  see  that  he 
felt  strongly  the  alteration  in  my  station.  I 
felt  generous  pity  as  I  went  into  the  library 
and  looked  down  at  the  broken  old  failure 
huddled  in  a  big  chair.  What  an  unlovely 
thing  is  failure,  especially  grey-haired  fail 
ure!  I  said  to  myself:  "How  fortunate  for 
him  that  this  helpless  creature  fell  into  my 
hands  instead  of  into  the  hands  of  some  rascal 
or  some  cruel  and  vindictive  man!"  I  was 
about  to  speak,  but  something  in  his  steady 
gaze  restrained  me. 

"I  have  admitted  you,"  he  said,  in  a  sur 
prisingly  steady  voice,  when  he  had  looked 
me  through  and  through,  "because  I  wish  you 
[26] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

to  hear  from  me  that  I  know  the  truth.  My 
son-in-law  returned  from  Europe  last  week, 
and,  learning  what  changes  had  been  made, 
went  over  all  the  papers." 

He  looked  as  if  he  expected  me  to  flinch. 
But  I  did  not.  Was  not  my  conscience  clear? 

"I  know  how  basely  you  have  betrayed 
me,"  he  went  on.  "I  thank  you  for  not  tak 
ing  everything.  I  confess  your  generosity 
puzzles  me.  However,  you  have  done  noth 
ing  for  which  the  law  can  touch  you.  What 
you  have  stolen  is  securely  yours.  I  wish  you 
joy  of  it." 

My  temper  is  not  of  the  sweetest — dealing 
with  the  trickeries  and  stupidities  of  little  men 
soon  exhausts  the  patience  of  a  man  who  has 
much  to  do  in  the  world,  and  knows  how  it 
should  be  done.  But  never  before  or  since 
have  I  been  so  insanely  angry.  I  burst  into 
a  torrent  of  abuse.  He  rang  the  bell;  and, 
[27] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

when  the  servant  came,  calm  and  clear  above 
my  raging  rose  his  voice,  saying,  "Robert, 
show  this  person  to  the  door."  For  the  mo 
ment  my  mind  seemed  paralysed.  I  left, 
probably  looking  as  base  and  guilty  as  he  with 
his  wounded  vanity  and  his  sufferings  from 
the  loss  of  all  he  had  thrown  away  imagined 
me  to  be. 

I  confess  that  that  was  a  very  bad  quarter 
of  an  hour.  But,  to  make  a  large  success  in 
this  world,  and  in  the  brief  span  of  a  lifetime, 
one  must  submit  to  discomforts  of  that  kind 
occasionally.  There  are  compensating  hours. 
I  had  one  last  week  when  I  attended  the  dedi 
cation  of  the  splendid  two-million-dollar  reci 
tation  hall  I  have  given  to  -  -  University. 

Not  until  I  was  several  blocks  from  Jud- 
son's  did  the  sense  of  my  wrongs  sting  me 
into  rage  again.  I  remember  that  I  said: 
"Infamous  ingratitude!  I  save  this  fine  gen 
ii  28  ] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

tleman  from  bankruptcy,  and  my  reward  is 
that  he  calls  me  a  thief — me,  a  millionaire!" 

Millionaire!  In  that  word  there  was  a 
magic  balm  for  all  the  wounds  to  my  pride 
and  my  then  supersensitive  conscience — a  jus 
tification  of  the  past,  a  guarantee  of  the 
future. 

With  my  million  safely  achieved,  I  looked 
about  me  as  a  conqueror  looks  upon  the  con 
quered.  A  thousand  dollars  saved  is  the  first 
step  toward  a  competence;  a  million  dollars 
achieved  is  the  first  step  toward  a  Croesus; 
and,  in  matters  of  money,  as  in  everything 
else,  "it  is  the  first  step  that  counts,"  as  the 
French  say.  I  was  filled  with  the  passion  for 
more,  more,  more.  I  felt  myself,  in  imagina 
tion,  growing  mightier  and  mightier,  lifting 
myself  higher  and  more  dazzlingly  above  the 
dull  mass  of  work-a-day  people  with  their 
routines  of  petty  concerns. 
[29] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

In  the  days  of  our  modesty  my  wife  used 
to  plan  that  we  would  retire  when  we  had 
twenty  thousand  a  year — enough,  she  then 
thought,  to  provide  for  every  want,  reason 
able  or  unreasonable,  that  we  and  the  children 
could  have.  Now,  she  would  have  scorned 
the  idea  of  retiring  as  contemptuously  as  I 
would.  She  was  eager  to  do  her  part  in  the 
process  of  expansion  and  aggrandisement, 
was  eager  to  see  us  socially  established,  to  put 
our  children  in  the  position  to  make  advan 
tageous  marriages.  We  would  be  outshone  in 
New  York  by  none! 

To  win  a  million  is  to  taste  blood.  The 
million-mania — for,  in  a  sense,  I'll  admit  it  is 
a  mania — is  roused  and  put  upon  the  scent, 
and  it  never  sleeps  again,  nor  is  its  appetite 
ever  satisfied  or  even  made  less  ravenous. 

A  few  years,  and  I  left  dry  goods  for 
finance,  where  the  pursuit  of  my  passion  was 
[30] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

more  direct  and  more  rapidly  successful. 
Every  day  I  fixed  my  thoughts  upon  another 
million;  and,  as  all  who  know  anything  about 
the  million-mania  will  tell  you,  the  act  of  fix 
ing  the  thought  upon  a  million,  when  one  has 
earned  the  right  to  acquire  millions,  makes 
that  million  yours,  makes  all  who  stand  be 
tween  you  and  it  aggressors  to  be  clawed  down 
and  torn  to  pieces.  As  I  grew  my  rights  were 
respected  more  arid  more  deferentially.  Men 
now  bow  before  me.  They  understand  that 
I  can  administer  great  wealth  to  the  best  ad 
vantage,  that  I  belong  to  one  of  that  small 
class  of  beings  created  to  possess  the  earth 
and  to  command  the  improvident  and  idealess 
inhabitants  thereof  how  and  where  and  when 
to  work. 

My  family? 

I  confess  they  have  not  risen  to  my  level 
or  to  the  opportunities  I  have  made  for  them. 
[31] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

Naturally,  with  great  wealth,  the  old  simple 
family  relationship  was  broken  up.  That  was 
to  be  expected — the  duties  of  people  in  our 
position  do  not  permit  indulgence  in  the  sim 
ple  emotions  and  pastimes  of  the  family  life 
of  the  masses.  But  neither,  on  the  other  hand, 
was  it  necessary  that  my  wife  should  become 
a  cold  and  calculating  social  figure,  full  of 
vanity  and  superciliousness,  instead  of  main 
taining  the  proud  dignity  of  her  position  as 
my  wife.  Nor  was  it  necessary  that  my  chil 
dren  should  become  selfish,  heartless,  pleasure- 
seekers,  caring  nothing  for  me  except  as  a 
source  of  money. 

I  suppose  I  am  in  part  responsible — my 
great  enterprises  have  left  me  little  time  for 
the  small  details  of  life,  such  as  the  training 
of  children.  They  were  admirably  educated, 
too.  I  provided  the  best  governesses  and  mas 
ters,  and  saw  to  it  that  they  learned  all  that  a 
[32] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

lady  or  a  gentleman  should  know;  and  in 
respect  of  dress  and  manners  I  admit  that 
they  do  very  well,  indeed.  Possibly,  the  com 
plete  breaking-  up  of  the  family,  except  as  it  is 
held  together  by  my  money,  is  due  to  the  fact 
that  we  see  so  little  of  one  another,  each  hav 
ing  his  or  her  separate  establishment.  Pos 
sibly  I  am  a  little  old-fashioned,  a  little  too 
exacting,  in  my  idea  of  wife  and  children. 
Certainly  they  are  aristocratic  enough. 

My  son  James  is  the  thorn  in  my  side. 
And,  whenever  I  have  a  moment's  rest  from 
my  affairs,  I  find  myself  thinking  of  him, 
worrying  over  him.  The  latest  development 
in  his  character  is  certainly  disquieting. 

He  was  twenty-five  years  old  yesterday. 
He  was  educated  at  our  most  aristocratic  uni 
versity  here,  and  at  one  in  Europe  of  the  same 
kind.  It  was  his  mother's  dream  that  he 
should  be  "brought  up  as  a  gentleman";  and 
[33] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

that  fell  in  with  my  ideas,  for  I  did  not  wish 
him  to  be  a  money-maker,  but  the  head  of  the 
family  I  purposed  to  found  upon  my  millions, 
which  are  already  numerous  enough  to  secure 
it  for  many  generations.  "There  is  no  call  for 
him  to  struggle  and  toil  as  I  have,"  I  said  to 
myself.  "The  sort  of  financial  ability  I  pos 
sess  is  born  in  a  man  and  can't  be  taught  or 
transmitted  by  birth.  He  would  make  a  small 
showing,  at  best,  as  a  business  man.  As  a 
gentleman  he  will  shine.  He  only  needs  just 
enough  business  training  to  enable  him  to 
supervise  those  who  will  take  care  of  his 
fortune  and  that  of  the  rich  woman  he  will 
marry."  I  was  determined  that  he  should 
marry  in  his  own  class — and,  indeed,  he  is  not 
a  sentimentalist,  and,  therefore,  is  not  likely 
to  disregard  my  wishes  in  that  matter. 

When  he  was  eighteen  I  caught  him  in  a 
fashionable  gambling-house  one  night  when  I 
[34] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

thought  he  was  at  his  college.  I  could  not 
but  admire  the  coolness  with  which  he  made 
the  best  of  it :  stood  beside  me  as  I  sat  playing 
faro,  then  went  over  to  a  roulette  table  and 
lost  several  hundred  dollars  on  a  few  spins  of 
the  ball.  But  the  next  day  I  took  him  sharply 
to  task — it  was  one  thing  for  me  to  play,  at 
my  age  and  with  my  fortune,  I  explained,  but 
not  the  same  for  him,  at  his  age,  and  with 
nothing  but  an  allowance. 

He  shrugged  his  shoulders  indifferently. 
"Really,  governor,"  he  said,  "a  man  must  do 
as  the  other  fellows  in  his  set  do.  Didn't  you 
see  whom  I  was  with?  If  you  wish  me  to 
travel  with  those  people  I  must  go  their  gait." 

That  was  not  unreasonable,  so  I  dismissed 
him  with  a  cautioning.  At  twenty  he  went 
abroad,  and,  a  year  after  he  had  returned,  his 
bills  and  drafts  were  still  coming.  I  sent  for 
him.  "Why  don't  you  pay  your  debts,  sir?" 
[35] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

I  demanded,  angrily,  for  such  conduct  was 
directly  contrary  to  my  teaching  and  example. 

He  gave  me  his  grandest  look — he  is  a 
handsome,  aristocratic-looking  fellow,  away 
ahead  of  what  Judson  must  have  been  at  his 
age.  "But,  my  dear  governor,"  he  said,  "a 
gentleman  pays  his  debts  when  he  feels  like 
it." 

"No,  he  don't,"  I  answered,  furiously,  for 
my  instinct  of  commercial  promptness  was 
roused.  "A  scoundrel  pays  his  debts  when  he 
feels  like  it.  A  gentleman  pays  'em  when 
they're  due." 

His  reply  was  a  smile  of  approval,  and 
"Excellent!  The  best  epigram  I've  heard 
since  I  left  Paris.  You're  as  great  a  genius 
at  making  phrases  as  you  are  at  making- 
money. " 

I  caught  him  speculating  in  Wall  Street— 
"One  must  amuse  one's  self,"  he  said,  cheer- 
[36] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

fully.  But  I  was  not  to  be  put  off  this  time. 
1  had  had  some  reports  on  his  life — many 
wild  escapades,  many  fantastic  extravagances. 
The  terrible  downfall  of  two  young  men  of 
his  set  made  me  feel  that  the  time  for  dis 
cipline  was  at  hand.  But,  as  I  was  very  busy, 
I  had  only  time  to  read  him  a  brief  lecture 
on  speculation  and  to  exact  from  him  a  prom 
ise  that  he  would  keep  out  of  Wall  Street. 
He  gave  the  promise  so  reluctantly  that  I  felt 
confident  he  meant  to  keep  it. 

A  week  ago  yesterday  morning  he  came  into 
my  bedroom,  before  I  was  up,  and  said  to  my 
valet,  Pigott:  "Just  take  yourself  off,  Pig 
gy!"  And,  when  we  were  alone,  he  began: 
"Mother  said  I  was  to  come  straight  to  you." 

"What  is  it?"  I  demanded,  my  anger  ris 
ing — experience  has  taught  me  that  the  more 
offhand  his  manner,  the  more  serious  the  of 
fence  I  should  have  to  repair. 
[37] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

"I  broke  my  promise  to  you  about  specu 
lating1,  sir,"  he  replied,  much  as  if  he  were 
apologising  for  having  jostled  me  in  a  crowd. 

I  sat  up  in  bed,  feeling  as  if  I  were  afire. 
"And  does  a  gentleman  keep  his  promises 
only  when  he  feels  like  it?"  I  asked. 

"But  that  isn't  all,"  he  went  on.  "My 
pool's  gone  smash — you  were  on  the  other  side 
and  I  never  suspected  it.  And  I've  got  a 
million  to  pay,  besides— 

He  took  out  his  cigarette  case,  and  lighted 
a  cigarette  with  great  deliberation. 

"Besides — what?"  I  said,  wishing  to  know 
all  before  I  began  upon  him. 

"I  wrote  your  name  across  the  back  of  a 
bit  of  paper,"  he  answered,  hiding  his  face  in 
a  big  cloud  of  smoke. 

I  fell  back  in  the  bed,  feeling  as  if  I  had 
been  struck  on  the  head  with  a  heavy  weight. 
"You  scoundrel!"  I  gasped. 
[38] 


, 


^  5 

•<  5^ 

*~    »v  f-s» 

si  o 

*  ^*  ^2 

-K>  ij 

f 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

"Sour  grapes,"  he  muttered,  his  cheeks 
aflame  and  his  eyes  blazing  at  me. 

"What  do  you  mean?"  I  said,  my  mind  in 
confusion. 

"The  fathers  have  eaten  sour  grapes,"  he 
quoted,  "and  the  children's  teeth  are  set  on 
edge." 

I  half  sprang  from  the  bed  at  this  insolence. 
"Don't  get  apoplectic,"  he  said,  calmly;  "you 
know  you  stole  your  start." 

At  this  infamous  calumny  I  leaped  upon 
him  and  flung  him  bodily  out  of  the  room.  It 
was  several  hours  before  I  was  calm  enough 
to  dismiss  the  incident  sufficiently  to  take  up 
my  affairs. 

This  has  come  at  a  particularly  unfortunate 
time  for  me,  as  I  am  in  the  midst  of  several 
delicate,  vast,  and  intricate  negotiations,  in 
volving  many  millions  and  demanding  all  my 
thought.  He  has  gone  down  on  Long  Island 
[39] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

in  care  of  his  mother.  It  will  be  at  least  ten 
days  before  I  can  take  up  his  case  and  dis 
pose  of  it.  I  am  undecided  whether  to  give 
him  another  trial  under  severe  conditions  or 
to  cast  him  off  and  make  his  younger  brother 
my  principal  heir  and  successor.  I  confess  to 
a  weakness  for  him — possibly  because  he  is  so 
audacious  and  fearless.  His  younger  brother 
is  entirely  too  smooth  and  diplomatic  with  me ; 
if  I  should  elevate  him,  he  would  fancy  that 
he  had  deceived  me  with  his  transparent  tricks. 
However,  we  shall  see. 


[40] 


II 

About  a  month  after  I  sent  James  to  my 
place  on  Long  Island  to  be  in  the  custody  of 
his  mother,  I  was  dining  in  my  Fifth  Avenue 
house  with  only  Burridge,  my  secretary,  and 
Jack  Ridley,  who  calls  himself  my  "court 
fool." 

Although  my  mind  was  crowded  with  large 
affairs  involving  great  properties  and  millions 
of  capital,  hardly  a  day  had  passed  without 
my  thinking  of  James  and  of  his  infamous 
conduct  toward  me.  But  without  neglecting 
the  duties  which  my  position  as  a  financial 
leader  impose  upon  me,  it  was  impossible  for 
me  to  take  time  to  do  my  duty  as  a  parent. 
The  duty  which  particularly  pressed  and  ab 
solutely  prevented  me  from  attending  to  my 
son  was  that  of  overcoming  difficulties  I  had 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

encountered  in  consolidating  the  three  rail 
ways  which  I  control  in  the  State.  To  achieve 
my  purpose  it  was  necessary  that  a  somewhat 
radical  change  be  made  in  a  certain  law.  I 

sent  my  agent  to  Boss  to  arrange  the 

matter.  I  learned  that  he  refused  to  order  the 
change  unless  I  would  pay  him  three  hundred 
thousand  dollars  in  cash  and  would  give  him 
the  opportunity  to  buy  to  a  like  amount  of  the 
new  stock  at  par.  He  pleaded  that  the  change 
would  cause  a  tremendous  outcry  if  it  were 
discovered,  as  it  almost  certainly  would  be, 
and  that  he  must  be  in  a  position  to  provide 
a  correspondingly  large  campaign  fund  to 
"carry  the  party"  successfully  through  the 
next  campaign.  He  said  his  past  favours  to 
me  had  brought  him  to  the  verge  of  political 
ruin.  In  a  sentence,  the  miserable  old  black 
mailer  was  trying  to  drive  as  hard  a  bargain 
with  me  as  if  I  had  not  been  making  stiff 
[42] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

contributions  to  what  he  calls  his  "campaign 
fund"  for  years  with  only  trifling  favours  in 
return.  I  was  willing  to  pay  what  the  change 
was  worth,  but  I  would  not  be  bled.  I 
brought  pressure  to  bear  from  the  national 
organisation  of  his  party,  and  he  came  round 
— apparently. 

Just  as  my  bill  was  slipping  quietly  through 
the  State  Senate,  having  passed  the  Lower 
House  unobserved,  the  other  boss  raised  a  ter 
rific  hullabaloo.  Boss  -  -  denied  to  my  peo 
ple  that  he  had  "tipped  off"  what  was  doing 
in  order  to  revenge  himself  and  get  his  blood- 
money  in  another  way;  but  I  knew  at  once 
that  the  sanctimonious  old  thief  had  outwitted 
me. 

It  looked  as  if  I  would  have  to  yield.     Of 

course  I  should  have  done  so  in  the  last  straits, 

for  only  a  fool  holds  out  for  a  principle  when 

holding  out  means  no  gain  and  a  senseless  and 

[43] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

costly  loss.  But  the  knowledge  that  a  defeat 
would  cost  me  dear  in  future  transactions  of 
this  kind  made  me  struggle  desperately.  I 
sent  for  my  lawyer,  Stratton — an  able  fellow, 
as  lawyers  go,  but,  like  most  of  this  stupid, 
lazy  human  race,  always  ready  to  say  "impos 
sible"  because  saying  so  saves  labour.  "Strat 
ton,"  I  said,  "there  must  be  a  way  round- 
there  always  is.  Can't  I  get  what  I  want  by 
an  amendment  to  some  other  law  that  can  be 
slipped  through  by  the  lobby  of  some  other 
corporation  as  if  for  its  benefit  only?  Take 
a  week.  Paw  over  the  books  and  rake  that 
brain  of  yours!  There's  a  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  in  it  for  you  if  you  find  me  the  way 
round." 

"But  the  law—"  he  began. 

I  lost  my  temper — I  always  do  when  one 
of  my  men  begins  his  reply  to  an  order  I've 
given  him  with  the  word  "But."    "Don't  'but' 
[44] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

me,  damn  you,"  said  I.  "I'm  getting  sick 
and  tired  of  your  eternal  opposition.  Craw 
ford" — Crawford  was  my  lawyer  until  I  put 
him  into  the  Senate — "used  always  to  tell  me 
how  I  could  do  what  I  wanted  to  do.  You're 
always  telling  me  that  I  can't  do  what  I  want 
to  do." 

"I'm  sorry  to  displease  you,  sir,  but 

"  'But'  again!"  I  exclaimed,  sarcastically. 

"Then,  however,"  he  went  on,  with  a  con 
ciliatory  smile,  "I'm  not  a  legislator;  I'm  a 
lawyer." 

"Precisely,"  said  I.  "And  the  only  use  I 
have  for  a  lawyer  is  to  show  me  how  to  do  as 
I  please,  in  spite  of  these  wretched  dema 
gogues  and  blackmailers  that  control  the 
statute-books.  If  you  are  as  intelligent  as 
Crawford  led  me  to  believe  and  as  my  own 
observation  of  you  suggests,  you'll  profit  by 
this  little  talk  we've  had.  Look  round  you  at 
[45] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

the  men  who  are  making  the  big  successes  in 
your  profession  nowadays — look  at  your  pre 
decessor,  Crawford.  Imitate  them  and  stop 
casting  about  for  ways  of  interpreting  the  law 
against  your  employer's  interest." 

Two  days  later  he  came  to  me  in  triumph. 
He  had  found  the  "way  round."  I  had  my 
law  slipped  through,  signed  by  the  Governor, 
and  safely  put  on  the  statute-book,  the  two 
bosses  as  unsuspicious  as  were  the  newspapers 
and  the  public.  Then  I  came  out  in  a  public 
disavowal  of  my  original  purpose,  denounced 
it  as  a  crime  against  the  people,  and  deplored 
that  my  railroad  corporation  should  be  un 
justly  accused  of  promoting  it.  You  must 
fight  the  devil  with  fire. 

Those  two  bosses — and  the  sensational  news 
papers  that  had  been  attacking  them  and  my 
corporations — were  astounded,  and  haven't 
recovered  yet.  It  will  be  six  months  before 
[46] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

they  realise  that  I  have  accomplished  my  pur 
pose;  even  then  they  won't  be  sure  that  I 
planned  it,  but  will  half  believe  it  was  my 
"luck." 

In  passing,  I  may  note  that  Stratton  tells 
me  I  ought  to  pay  him  two  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  dollars  instead  of  one  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand — for  pulling  me  out  of  the 
hole!  He  has  wholly  forgotten  having  said 
"can't  be  done"  and  "impossible"  to  me  so 
many  times  that  I  finally  had  to  stop  him  by 
cursing  him  violently.  With  their  own  vanity 
and  their  women-folks'  flattery  for  ever  con 
spiring  to  destroy  their  judgment,  it's  a  won 
der  to  me  that  men  are  able  to  get  on  at  all. 
Indeed,  they  wouldn't  if  they  didn't  have 
masters  like  me  over  them. 

After  I  had  got  my  little  joke  on  the  bosses 
and  the  impertinent  public  safely  on  the  stat 
ute-book,  there  remained  the  problem  of  how 
[47] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

to  take  advantage  of  it  without  stirring  up 
the  sensational  newspapers  and  the  politicians, 
always  ready  to  pander  to  the  spirit  of  dema 
gogy.  I  had  my  rights  safely  embodied  in 
the  law;  but  in  this  lawless  time  that  is  not 
enough.  Instead  of  being  respectful  to  the 
great  natural  leaders  and  deferential  to  their 
larger  vision  and  larger  knowledge,  the 
people  regard  us  with  suspicion  and  over 
look  our  services  in  their  envy  of  the  trif 
ling  commissions  we  get — for,  what  is  the 
wealth  we  reserve  for  ourselves  in  com 
parison  with  the  benefits  we  confer  upon  the 
country? 

At  this  dinner  which  I  have  mentioned,  both 
Burridge  and  Ridley  were  silent,  and  so  my 
thoughts  had  no  distraction.  As  I  know  that 
it  is  bad  for  my  digestion  to  use  my  brain  as 
I  eat,  I  tried  to  start  a  conversation. 

"Have  you  seen  Aurora  to-day?"  I  asked 
[48] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

Burridge.  She  is  my  eldest  daughter,  just 
turned  eighteen. 

"She  and  Walter" — he  is  my  second  son, 
within  a  month  or  so  of  twenty-two — "are 
dining  out  this  evening;  she  at  Carnarvon's, 
he  at  Longview's.  I  think  they  meet  at  Mrs. 
Hollister's  dance  and  come  home  together." 

This  was  agreeable  news.  The  names  told 
me  that  my  wife  was  at  last  succeeding  in  her 
social  campaign,  thanks  to  the  irresistible 
temptation  to  the  narrow  aristocrats  of  the 
inner  circle  in  the  prospective  fortunes  of  my 
children.  While  this  social  campaign  of  ours 
has  its  vanity  side — and  I  here  admit  that  I 
am  not  insensible  to  certain  higher  kinds  of 
vanity — it  also  has  a  substantial  business  side. 
The  greatest  disadvantage  I  have  laboured  un 
der — and  at  times  it  was  serious — has  been  a 
certain  suspicion  of  me  as  a  newcomer  and  an 
adventurer.  Naturally  this  has  not  been  les- 
[49] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

sened  by  the  boldness  and  swiftness  of  my 
operations.  When  I  and  my  family  are  ad 
mitted  on  terms  of  intimacy  and  perfect 
equality  among  the  people  of  large  and  old- 
established  fortune,  I  shall  be  absolutely 
trusted  in  the  financial  world  and  shall  be 
secure  in  the  position  of  leadership  which  my 
brains  have  won  for  me  and  which  I  now 
maintain  only  by  steady  fighting. 

"And  Helen?"  I  went  on.  Helen  is  my 
other  daughter,  not  yet  twelve. 

"She's  dining  in  her  own  sitting-room  with 
her  companion,"  replied  Burridge. 

"I  haven't  seen  her  for  a  day  or  two,"  I 
said. 

"Two  weeks  to-morrow,"  answered  Bur- 
ridge. 

Jack  Ridley  laughed,  and  I  frowned.  It 
irritates  me  for  Ridley  to  note  it  whenever  I 
am  caught  in  seeming  neglect  of  my  children. 
[50] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

He  pretends  not  to  believe  that  it  is  my  sense 
of  duty  that  makes  me  deprive  myself  of  the 
family  happiness  of  ordinary  men  for  the  sake 
of  my  larger  duties.  But  he  must  know  at  the 
bottom  that  all  my  self-sacrifice  is  for  my  chil 
dren,  for  my  family,  ultimately.  I  have  the 
thankless,  misunderstood  toil;  they  have  the 
enjoyment. 

"Two  weeks!"  I  protested;  "it  can't  be!" 
"She  came  to  me  for  her  allowance  this 
morning,"  he  said,  "and  she  asked  after  you. 
She  said  your  valet  had  told  her  you  were 
staying  here  and  were  well.  She  said  she'd 
like  to  see  you  some  time — if  you  ever  got 
round  to  it." 

This  little  picture  of  my  domestic  life  did 
not  tend  to  cheer  me.  Naturally,  I  went  on 
to  think  of  Jim.  Ridley  interrupted  my 
thoughts  by  saying:  "Have  you  been  down  on 
Long  Island  yet?" 

[51] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

This  was  going  too  far  even  for  a  "court 
fool" — his  name  for  himself,  not  mine.  Rid 
ley  is  my  pensioner,  confidant,  listening  ma 
chine,  and  talking  machine.  He  is  of  an  old 
New  York  family,  an  honest,  intelligent  fel 
low,  with  an  extravagant  stomach  and  back. 
My  wife  engaged  him,  originally,  to  help  her 
in  her  social  campaigns.  I  saw  that  I  could 
use  him  to  better  advantage,  and  he  has  grad 
ually  grown  into  my  confidence. 

In  my  lesser  days,  one  of  the  things  that 
most  irritated  me  against  the  very  rich  was 
their  habit  of  buying  human  beings,  body  and 
soul,  to  do  all  kinds  of  unmanly  work,  and  I 
especially  abhorred  the  "parasites"  -  so  I 
called  them — who  hung  about  rich  men,  en 
tertaining  them,  submitting  to  their  humours, 
and  bearing  degradations  and  humiliations  in 
exchange  for  the  privileges  of  eating  at  lux 
urious  tables,  living  in  the  colder  corners  of 
[52] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

palaces,  driving  in  the  carriages  of  their 
patrons,  and  being  received  nominally  as  their 
social  equals.  But  now  I  understand  these 
matters  better.  It  isn't  given  to  many  men  to 
be  independent.  As  for  the  "parasites,"  how 
should  I  do  without  Jack  Ridley? 

I  can't  have  friends.  Friends  take  one's 
time — they  must  be  treated  with  consideration, 
or  they  become  dangerous  enemies.  Friends 
impose  upon  one's  friendship — they  demand 
inconvenient  or  improper,  or,  at  any  rate, 
costly  favours  which  it  is  difficult  to  refuse. 
I  must  have  companionship,  and  fate  compels 
that  my  companion  shall  be  my  dependant, 
one  completely  under  my  control — a  Jack 
Ridley.  I  look  after  his  expensive  stomach 
and  back;  he  amuses  me  and  keeps  me  in 
formed  as  to  the  trifling  matters  of  art,  litera 
ture,  gossip,  and  so  forth,  which  I  have  no 
time  to  look  up,  yet  must  know  if  I  am  to 
[53] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

make  any  sort  of  appearance  in  company. 
Really,  next  to  my  gymnasium,  I  regard  poor 
old  Jack  as  my  most  useful  belonging,  so  far 
as  my  health  and  spirits  are  concerned. 

To  his  impertinent  reminder  of  my  neg 
lected  duty  I  made  no  reply  beyond  a  heavy 
frown.  The  rest  of  the  dinner  was  eaten  in 
oppressive  silence,  I  brooding  over  the  absence 
of  cheerfulness  in  my  life.  They  say  it  is  my 
fault,  but  I  know  it  is  simply  their  stupidity 
in  being  unable  to  understand  how  to  deal  with 
a  superior  personality.  It  is  my  fate  to  be 
misunderstood,  publicly  and  privately.  The 
public  grudgingly  praises,  often  even  derides, 
my  philanthropies ;  the  members  of  my  family 
laugh  at  my  generosities  and  self-sacrifices  for 
them. 

As  I  was  going  to  my  apartment  and  to 
bed,  Ridley  waylaid  me.  "You're  offended 
with  me,  old  man?"  he  asked,  his  eyes  moist 
[54] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

and  his  lips  trembling  under  his  grey  mous 
tache.  He  weeps  easily:  at  a  glass  of  espe 
cially  fine  wine;  over  a  sentimental  story  in  a 
paper  or  magazine;  if  a  grouse  is  cooked  just 
right;  when  I  am  cross  with  him.  And  I 
think  all  his  emotions,  whether  of  heart  or  of 
stomach,  are  genuine — and  probably  about  as 
valuable  as  most  emotions. 

"Not  at  all,  not  at  all,  Jack,"  I  said,  reas 
suringly;  "but  you  ought  to  be  careful  when 
you  see  I'm  low  in  my  mind." 

"Do  go  down  to  see  the  boy,"  he  went  on, 
earnestly.  He's  a  good  boy  at  heart,  as 
good  as  he  is  handsome  and  clever.  Give 
him  a  little  of  your  precious  time  and 
he'll  be  worth  more  to  you  than  all  your 
millions." 

"He's  a  young  scalawag,"  said  I,  pretend 
ing  to  harden.  "I'm  almost  convinced  that 
it's  my  duty  to  drive  him  out  and  cut  him 
[55] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

off  altogether.  After  all  I've  done  for 
him!  After  all  the  pains  I've  taken  with 
him!" 

Ridley  looked  at  me  timidly,  hut  found 
courage  to  say:  "He  told  me  he'd  never  talked 
with  you  so  much  as  sixty  consecutive  minutes 
in  his  whole  life!" 

This  touched  me  at  the  moment.  I'm  soft 
at  times,  where  my  family  is  concerned.  "I'll 
see;  I'll  see,"  I  said.  "Perhaps  I  can  go  down 
to  him  Sunday.  But  don't  annoy  me  about 
it  again,  Jack!"  There's  a  limit  to  my  good 
nature,  even  with  poor  old  well-meaning 
Ridley. 

But  other  matters  pressed  in,  and  it  was  the 
following  Monday  and  then  the  following- 
Saturday  before  I  knew  it.  Then  came  the 
first  Sunday  in  the  month,  and  Burridge,  as 
usual,  brought  in  the  preceding  month's  do 
mestic  accounts  as  soon  as  I  had  settled  myself 
[56] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

at  breakfast  after  my  run  and  swim  and  rub- 
down  in  my  "gym"  in  the  basement.  As  a 
rule,  at  that  time  I'm  in  my  best  possible  hu 
mour.  My  wife  and  children  know  it  and  lie 
in  wait  then  with  any  particularly  impudent 
requests  for  favours  or  particularly  outra 
geous  confessions  that  must  be  made.  But  on 
the  first  Sunday  in  the  month  even  my  "gym" 
can't  put  me  in  good-humour.  I  am  a  liberal 
man.  My  large  gifts  to  education  and  char 
ity  and  my  generosity  with  my  family  prove 
it  beyond  a  doubt.  My  wife  looks  scornful 
when  I  speak  of  this.  Her  theory  is  that  my 
public  gifts  are  an  exhibition  of  my  vanity, 
and  that  my  establishments,  my  yacht,  etc., 
etc.,  are  partly  vanity,  and  partly  my  selfish 

passion  for  my  own  comfort.     She,  however, 
p 

never  attributes  a  good  motive  or  instinct  to 

me,  or  to  any  one  else,  nowadays.    Really,  the 

change  in  her  since  our  modest  days  is  incred- 

[57] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

ible.  It  is  amazing  how  arrogant  affluence 
makes  women. 

But,  as  I  was  saying,  my  monthly  bill-day 
is  too  much  for  my  good-humour.  It  is  not  the 
money  going  out  that  I  mind  so  much,  though 
I'm  not  ashamed  to  admit  that  it  is  not  so 
agreeable  to  me  to  see  money  going  out  as  it 
is  to  see  money  coming  in.  The  real  irritation 
is  the  waste — the  wanton,  wicked,  dangerous 
waste. 

I  can't  attend  to  details.  I  can't  visit  kitch 
ens,  do  marketing,  superintend  housekeepers 
and  butlers,  oversee  stables,  and  buy  all  the 
various  supplies.  I  can't  shop  for  furniture 
and  clothing,  and  look  after  the  entertain 
ments.  All  those  things  are  my  wife's  busi 
ness  and  duty.  And  she  has  a  secretary,  and 
a  housekeeper,  and  Burridge,  and  Ridley,  to 
assist  her.  Yet  the  bills  mount  and  mount; 
the  waste  grows  and  grows.  Extravagance 
[58] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

for  herself,  extravagance  for  her  children, 
thousands  thrown  away  with  nothing  what 
ever  to  show  for  it!  The  money  runs  away 
like  water  at  a  left-on  faucet. 

The  result  is  the  almost  complete  estrange 
ment  between  my  wife  and  me.  Every  month 
we  have  a  fierce  quarrel  over  the  waste,  often 
a  quarrel  that  lasts  the  month  through  and 
breaks  out  afresh  every  time  we  meet.  She 
denounces  me  as  a  miser,  a  vulgarian.  She 
goads  me  into  furious  outbursts  before  the 
children.  What  with  my  battles  against  stu 
pidity  and  insolence  downtown,  and  my  bat 
tles  against  waste  in  my  family,  my  life  is  one 
long  contention.  However,  I  suppose  this  is 
the  lot  of  all  the  great  men  who  play  large 
parts  on  the  world's  stage.  N-o  wonder  those 
who  fancy  we  are  on  earth  to  seek  and  find 
happiness  regard  life  as  a  ghastly  fraud. 

"What's  the  demnition  total,  Burridge?"  I 
[59] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

asked,  when  he  appeared  with  his  arms  full  of 
books  and  papers. 

"Ninety-two  thousand,  four,  twenty-six, 
fifty-one,"  he  answered,  in  a  tone  of  abject 
apology. 

I  could  not  restrain  an  indignant  expostu 
lation.  "That's  seventy-three  hundred  and 
four  above  last  month.  Impossible!  You've 
made  a  mistake  in  adding." 

He  went  over  his  figures  nervously  and 
flushed  scarlet.  "I  beg  your  pardon,  sir,"  he 
said,  in  a  tone  of  terror.  "The  total  is  ninety- 
five  thousand  instead  of  ninety-two." 

Ten  thousand-odd  above  month  before  last! 
Eighty-nine  hundred  above  the  same  month 
last  year!  I  had  to  restrain  myself  from 
physical  violence  to  Burridge.  I  ordered 
him  out  of  the  room — giving  as  my  reason 
anger  at  his  mistake  in  addition.  I  wanted 
to  hear  no  more,  as  I  felt  sure  the  details  of 
[60] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

the  shameful  waste  would  put  me  in  a  rage 
which  would  impair  my  health.  The  total 
was  enough  for  my  purpose — we  were  now 
living  at  the  rate  of  more  than  a  million  dollars 
a  year!  I  took  the  eleven  o'clock  train  for  my 
place  on  Long  Island. 

When  I  reached  my  railway  station  none  of 
my  traps  was  there.  In  my  angry  preoccu 
pation  I  had  forgotten  to  telephone  from  the 
Fifth  Avenue  house;  and,  of  course,  neither 
Pigott  nor  the  butler  nor  Burridge  nor  Rid 
ley  nor  any  of  my  herd  of  blockhead  servants 
had  had  the  consideration  to  repair  my  over 
sight.  Yet  there  are  fools  who  say  money  will 
buy  everything.  Sometimes  I  think  it  won't 
buy  anything  but  annoyances. 

So  I  had  to  go  to  my  place  in  a  rickety, 

smelly  station-surrey — and  that  did  not  soothe 

my   rage.      However,   as   I   drove   into   and 

through  my  grounds — there  isn't  a  finer  park 

[61] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

on  Long  Island — I  began  to  feel  somewhat 
better.  There  is  nothing  like  lands  and  houses 
to  give  one  the  sensation  of  wealth,  of  posses 
sion.  I  have  often  gone  into  my  vaults  and 
have  looked  at  the  big  bundles  and  boxes  of 
securities;  and,  by  setting  my  imagination  to 
work,  I  have  got  some  sort  of  notion  how  vast 
my  wealth  and  power  are.  But  bits  of  paper 
supplemented  by  imagination  are  not  equal  to 
the  tangible,  seeable  things — just  as  a  hun 
dred-dollar  bill  can't  give  one  the  sensation  in 
the  fingers  and  in  the  eyes  that  a  ten-dollar 
gold  piece  gives.  That  is  why  I  like  my  big 
houses  and  my  city  lots  and  my  parked  acres 
in  the  country — yes,  and  my  yacht  and  car 
riages  and  furniture,  my  servants  and  horses 
and  dogs,  my  family's  jewels  and  finery. 

But  the  instant  I  entered  the  house  my 
spirits  soured  again,  curdled  into  an  acid 
fury. 

[62] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

I  had  sent  my  son  down  there  with  his 
mother  to  await  my  sentence  upon  him  for  his 
crimes — his  insults  to  me,  his  waste  of  nearly 
a  million  of  my  money,  his  violation  of  his 
word  of  honour,  his  forgery.  I  had  been  as 
suming  that  in  those  five  weeks  of  waiting  he 
was  suffering  from  remorse  and  suspense,  was 
thinking  of  his  crimes  against  me  and  of  my 
anger  and  justice.  As  I  entered  the  large 
drawing-room  unannounced,  they  were  about 
to  go  in  to  luncheon.  "They"  means  my  wife 
and  James,  and  Walter  and  Aurora,  who  had 
gone  down  to  the  country  for  the  week-end. 
"They"  means  also  ten  others,  six  of  whom 
were  guests  staying  in  the  house.  As  I  stood 
dumfounded,  five  more  who  had  been  to 
church  came  trooping  in.  I  had  gone,  ex 
pecting  a  house  of  mourning.  I  had  found 
a  revel. 

At  sight  of  me  the  laughter  and  conversa- 
[63] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

tion  died.  My  wife  coloured.  James  looked 
abashed  for  a  moment.  Then — what  a  well- 
mannered,  self-possessed  dog  he  is! — he  burst 
out  laughing.  "Fairly  trapped!"  he  said. 
And  he  went  on  to  explain  to  the  others: 
"The  governor  and  I  had  a  little  fall-out,  and 
he  sent  me  down  here  to  play  with  the  ashes. 
YouVe  caught  me  with  the  goods  on  me,  gov 
ernor.  It's  up  to  me — I've  got  to  square  my 
self.  So  I'll  pay  by  giving  you  the  two  pret 
tiest  young  girls  in  the  room  to  sit  on  either 
side  of  you  at  luncheon.  Let's  go  in,  for  I'm 
half -starved." 

As  all  the  women  in  the  room  except  three 

—including  Aurora — were  married,   James's 

remark  was  doubly  adroit.    What  could  I  do 

but  put  aside  my  wrath  and  set  my  guests  at 

their  ease? 

This  was  the  less  difficult  to  do  as  Natalie 
Bradish  and  Horton  Kirkby  were  among  the 
[64] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

guests — and  stopping  in  the  house.  I  have 
long  had  my  eye  on  Miss  Bradish  as  the 
proper  wife  for  James  or  Walter — whichever 
should  commend  himself  to  me  as  my  fit  suc 
cessor  at  the  head  of  the  family  I  purpose  to 
found  with  the  bulk  of  my  wealth.  She  is  a 
handsome  girl;  she  has  a  proud,  distinguished 
look  and  manner;  she  will  inherit  several  mill 
ions  some  day  that  can't  be  distant,  as  her 
father  is  in  hopelessly  bad  health;  she  comes 
of  a  splendid,  widely  connected  family,  and  is 
extremely  ambitious  and  free  from  sentimen 
tal  nonsense.  Young  Kirkby  is  the  very  hus 
band  for  Aurora.  His  great-grandfather 
founded  their  family  securely  in  city  real 
estate  and  lived  long  enough  firmly  to  estab 
lish  the  tradition  of  giving  the  bulk  of  the 
fortune  to  the  eldest  male  heir.  Kirkby  is  not 
brilliant;  but  Aurora  has  brains  enough  for 
two,  and  he  has  a  set  of  long,  curved  fingers 
[65] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

that  never  relax  their  hold  upon  what's  in 
them. 

After  luncheon  I  drew  my  wife  away  to  the 
sitting-room  for  the  plain  talk  which  was  the 
object  of  my  visit.  As  the  presence  of  Miss 
Bradish  and  Kirkby  in  the  house  had  lessened 
my  anger  on  the  score  of  my  wife  and  son's 
light-hearted  way  of  looking  at  his  crimes,  I 
put  forward  the  matter  of  the  expense  ac 
counts. 

"Burridge  tells  me  the  total  for  last  month 
is — "  I  began,  and  paused.  As  I  was  speak 
ing  I  was  glancing  round  the  room.  I  had 
not  been  in  it  for  several  years.  I  had  just 
noted  the  absence  of  a  Corot  I  bought  ten 
years  before  and  paid  sixteen  thousand  dollars 
for.  I  don't  care  for  pictures  or  that  sort  of 
thing,  any  more  than  I  care  for  the  glitter  of 
diamonds  or  the  colours  of  gold  and  silver  in 
themselves.  I  know  that  most  of  this  talk  of 
[66] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

"art"  and  the  like  is  so  much  rubbish  and  af 
fectation.  But  works  of  art,  like  the  precious 
stones  and  metals,  have  come  to  be  the  con 
ventionally  accepted  standards  of  luxury,  the 
everywhere  recognised  insignia  of  the  aristoc 
racy  of  wealth.  So  I  have  them,  and  add  to 
my  collection  steadily  just  as  I  add  to  my  col 
lection  of  finely  bound  books  that  no  one  ever 
opens.  What  slaves  of  convention  and  osten 
tation  we  are! 

"What's  become  of  the  Corot  that  used  to 
hang  there?"  I  asked,  suspiciously,  because  I 
had  had  so  many  experiences  of  my  family's 
trifling  with  my  possessions. 

My  wife  smiled  scornfully.  "I  believe  you 
carry  round  in  your  head  an  inventory  of 
everything  we've  got,  even  to  the  last  pot  in 
the  kitchen,"  she  said.  "The  Corot  is  safe. 
It's  hanging  in  my  bedroom." 

In  her  bedroom !  A  Corot  I've  been  offered 
[67] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

twenty-five  thousand  dollars  for,  and  she  had 
hidden  it  away  in  her  bedroom!  I  was  irri 
tated  when  she  put  it  in  her  sitting-room  where 
few  people  came,  for  it  should  have  had  a  good 
place  in  our  New  York  palace.  But  in  her 
bedroom,  where  no  one  but  the  servants  would 
ever  have  a  chance  to  look  at  it! 

"Why  didn't  you  put  it  in  the  attic  or  the 
cellar?"  I  asked. 

She  lifted  her  eyebrows  and  gave  me  an 
affected,  disdainful  glance.  "I  put  it  in  my 
bedroom  because  I  like  to  look  at  it,"  she 
said. 

I  laughed.  What  nonsense!  As  if  any 
sensible  person — and  she  is  unquestionably 
shrewdly  sensible — ever  looks  at  those  things 
except  when  some  one  is  by,  noting  their  "de 
votion  to  art."  I  said:  "Certainly  my  family 
has  the  most  amazing  disregard  of  money — 
of  value.  If  it  were  not— 
[68] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

"You  started  to  say  something  about  last 
month's  accounts,"  she  interrupted. 

"The  total  was  ninety-five  thousand,"  I 
said,  looking  sternly  at  her.  "You  are  now 
living  at  the  rate  of  more  than  a  million  a 
year.  In  ten  years  we  have  jumped  from 
one  hundred  thousand  a  year  to  a  million  a 
year.  And  this  madness  grows  month  by 
month." 

She — shrugged  her  shoulders! 

"I  came  to  say  to  you,  madam—"  I  went  on, 
furiously. 

"Did  you  look  at  the  items?"  she  cut  in 
coldly. 

"No,"  I  replied;  "I  could  not  trust  myself 
to  do  it." 

"Twenty-seven  thousand  of  last  month's 
expenses  went  toward  paying  a  small  instal 
ment  on  your  little  place  for  your  own  amuse 
ment  in  the  Adirondacks.  I  had  nothing  to 
[69] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

do  with  it.  None  of  us  but  you  will  ever  go 
there." 

This  was  most  exasperating.  I  can't  ac 
count  for  my  leaping  into  such  a  trap,  except 
on  the  theory  that  my  preoccupation  with  the 
railway  matters  must  have  made  me  forget 
ordering  that  item  into  my  domestic  accounts 

TV 

instead  of  into  my  personal  accounts  down 
town.  Of  course,  my  contention  of  my  fam 
ily's  extravagance  was  sound.  But  I  had 
seemed  to  give  the  whole  case  away,  had  de 
stroyed  the  effect  of  all  I  had  said,  and,  as  I 
glanced  at  my  wife,  I  saw  a  triumphant,  con 
temptuous  smile  in  her  eyes.  "You  are  always 
trying  to  punish  some  one  else  for  your  own 
sins,"  she  said.  "The  truth  is  that  the  only 
truly  prodigal  member  of  the  family  is  your 
self." 

Me  prodigal  with  my  own  wealth!    But  I 
did  not  answer  her.    One  is  at  a  hopeless  dis- 
[70] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

advantage  in  discussion  with  a  woman.  They 
are  insensible  to  reason  and  logic  except  when 
they  can  gain  an  advantage  by  using  them. 
It's  like  having  to  keep  to  the  rules  in  a  game 
where  your  antagonist  keeps  to  them  or  makes 
his  own  rules  as  it  suits  him.  "Nevertheless," 
I  said,  "the  waste  in  my  establishments  must 
stop  and  your  son  James  must  come  to  his 
senses.  It  was  about  him  that  I  came." 

"Poor  boy — he's  had  such  a  bad  example 
all  his  life!"  she  said.  "My  dear,  we  have  no 
right  to  judge  him." 

I  knew  that  she,  like  him,  was  throwing  up 
to  me  my  transactions  with  Judson.  And  like 
him,  she  was  taking  the  petty,  narrow  view  of 
them.  "Madam,"  I  said,  "your  son  is  a  liar, 
forger,  and  thief.'' 

Just  then  there  came  a  knock  at  the  door 
and  James's  voice  called:  "May  I  come  in, 
mother?" 

[71] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

"No,  go  away,  Jim.  Your  father  and  I  are 
busy,"  she  called  in  reply. 

I  went  to  the  door  and  opened  it,  beside 
myself  with  fury.  "Come  in!"  I  exclaimed. 
"It's  business  that  concerns  you." 

He  entered — tall  and  strong,  his  handsome 
face  graver  than  I  had  ever  seen  it  before. 
He  closed  the  door  behind  him  and  stood  look 
ing  from  one  to  the  other  of  us.  "Well?"  he 
said,  "but — no  abuse!" 

Whenever  James  and  I  have  come  face  to 
face  in  a  crisis  I  have  always  had  the,  to  me, 
maddening  feeling  that  a  will  as  strong  as  my 
own  has  been  lifting  its  head  defiantly  against 
me.  My  wife  and  my  son  Walter  deal  with 
me  by  evasion  and  slippery  trickery.  My 
daughter  Aurora  wins  from  me,  when  I  choose 
to  let  her,  by  cajolery  or  tears.  Little  Helen 
has  never  yet  had  to  do  with  me  in  a  serious 
matter,  and  I  cannot  remember  her  ever  ask- 
[72] 


: 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

ing  me  even  the  trifling  favours  which  most 
children  seek  from  their  parents.  But  James 
has  always  played  the  high  and  haughty— 
and  I  am  ashamed  to  think  how  often  he  has 
ridden  me  down  and  defeated  me  and  gained 
his  object.  As  I  have  looked  upon  him  as  en 
titled  to  peculiar  consideration  because  I  had 
planned  for  him  one  day  to  wear  my  mantle, 
he  has  had  me  at  a  disadvantage.  But  my 
indulgent  conduct  toward  him  only  makes  the 
blacker  his  conduct  toward  me. 

As  he  stood  there  that  day,  looking  so  calm 
and  superior,  I  can't  describe  the  conflict  of 
pride  in  him  and  hatred  of  him  that  surged  up 
in  me.  I  lost  control  of  myself.  I  clinched 
my  fists  and  shook  them  in  his  face.  "You 
liar!  You  forger!  You  conscienceless 

His  mother  rushed  between  us.     "I  knew 
it!     I  knew  it!"  she  wailed.     "Ever  since  he 
was  a  baby,  I  knew  this  day  would  come.    Oh, 
[73] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 
my  God!     James,  my  husband — James,  my 
son!" 

James  lowered  the  hand  he  had  lifted  to 
strike  me.  His  face  was  pale  and  his  eyes 
were  blazing  hate  at  me — I  saw  his  real  feel 
ing  toward  me  at  last.  How  could  I  have 
overlooked  it  so  long? 

"Who  would  ever  think  you  were  my  fath 
er?"  he  asked,  in  a  voice  that  sounded  to  me 
like  an  echo  of  my  own.  "You — with  hate 
in  your  face — hate  for  the  son  whom  you  poi 
soned  before  he  was  born,  whom  you  have  been 
poisoning  ever  since  with  your  example.  You 
—my  father!" 

The  young  scoundrel  had  taunted  me  into 
that  calm  fury  which  is  so  dreadful  that  I  fear 
it  myself — for,  when  I  am  possessed  by  it, 
there  is  no  length  to  which  I  would  not  go. 
Our  wills  had  met  in  final  combat.  I  saw  that 
I  must  crush  him — the  one  human  being  who 
[74] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

dared  to  oppose  me  and  defy  me,  and  he  my 
own  child  who  should  have  been  deferential, 
grateful,  obedient,  unquestioning.  "But  I 
am  not  your  father,"  I  said.  "In  my  will  I 
had  made  you  head  of  the  family,  had  given 
you  two-thirds  of  my  estate.  I  shall  write  a 
revocation  here — immediately.  I  shall  make 
a  new  will  to-morrow." 

If  the  blow  crushed  him,  he  did  not  show 
it.  He  did  not  even  wince  as  he  saw  forty 
millions  swept  away  from  him.  "As  you 
please,"  he  said,  putting  scorn  into  his  face 
and  voice — as  if  I  could  be  fooled  by  such  a 
pretence.  The  man  never  lived  who  could 
scorn  a  tenth,  or  even  a  fortieth,  of  forty  mill 
ions.  "I  came  into  this  room,"  he  went  on, 
"to  tell  you  how  ashamed  I  was  of  what  I 
have  done — how  vile  and  low  I  have  felt. 
I  didn't  come  to  apologise  to  you,  but  to 
my — my  mother  and  to  myself  in  your  pres- 
[75] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

ence.  I  am  still  ashamed  of  what  I  did,  of 
what  you  made  me  do.  Do  you  know  why  I 
did  it?  Because  your  money,  your  millions, 
have  changed  you  from  a  man  into  a  monster. 
This  wealth  has  injured  us  all — yes,  even 
mother,  noble  though  she  is.  But  you — it  has 
made  you  a  fiend.  Well,  I  wished  to  be  inde 
pendent  of  you.  You  have  brought  me  up 
so  that  I  could  not  live  without  luxury.  But 
you  haven't  destroyed  in  me  the  last  spark  of 
self-respect.  And  I  decided  to  make  a  play 
for  a  fortune  of  my  own.  I — broke  my  word 
and  speculated.  I  overreached — I  saw  my 
one  hope  of  freeing  myself  from  slavery  to 
you  slipping  from  me.  I — I — no  matter. 
What  did  matter  after  I'd  broken  my  word? 
And  I  was  justly  punished.  I  lost — every 
thing." 

As  he  flung  these  frightful  insults  at  me 
my  calm  fury  grew  cold  as  well.     "You  will 
[76.] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

leave  the  house  within  an  hour,"  I  said.  "Your 
mother  will  make  your  excuses  to  her  guests 
— I  shall  spare  you  the  humiliation  of  a  public 
disowning.  During  my  lifetime  you  shall 
have  nothing  from  me — no,  nor  from  your 
mother.  I  shall  see  to  that.  In  my  will  I  shall 
leave  you  a  trifling  sum — enough  to  keep  you 
alive.  I  am  responsible  to  society  that  you 
do  not  become  a  public  charge.  And  you  may 
from  this  day  continue  on  your  way  to  the 
penitentiary  without  hindrance  from  those 
who  were  your  kin." 

As  I  finished,  he  smiled.  His  smile  grew 
broader,  and  became  a  laugh.  "Very  well,  ex- 
father,"  he  said;  "there's  one  inheritance  you 
can't  rob  me  of — my  mind.  I'll  lop  off  its 
rotten  spots,  and  I  think  what's  left  will  en 
able  me  to  stagger  along." 

"You  imagine  I'll  relent,"  I  went  on,  "but 
my  days  of  weakness  with  you  are  over." 
[77] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

"You — relent!"  He  smiled  mockingly. 
"I'm  not  such  a  fool  as  to  fancy  that.  Even 
if  you  had  a  heart,  your  pride  wouldn't  let 
you.  And  I'm  not  sorry — just  at  this  mo 
ment.  Perhaps  I  shall  be  later — I'm  fond  of 
cash,  and  your  pot  for  me  was  a  big  one.  But 
just  now  I  feel  as  if  you  were  doing  me  a 
favour."  He  drew  a  long  breath.  "God!" 
he  exclaimed.  "I'm  free!  In  spite  of  myself, 
I'm  free!  I'm  a  man  at  last!" 

I  did  not  care  to  listen  to  any  more  of  the 
frothings  of  the  silly  young  fool.  Already  I 
was  regarding  him  as  a  stranger,  was  turning 
to  his  brother  Walter  as  a  possible  successor 
to  him  and  my  principal  heir.  I  left  the  room 
and  went  for  a  walk  with  my  daughter  and 
Natalie  Bradish.  When  we  returned  he  was 
gone.  I  sent  for  Walter  and  told  him  the 
news. 

"Your  brother  has  forfeited  everything,"  I 
[78] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

said,  in  conclusion.  "It  remains  for  you  to 
prove  yourself  worthy  of  the  place  I  had  de 
signed  for  him.  In  the  will  I  shall  make  to 
morrow  my  estate  will  be  divided  equally 
among  my  three  children,  your  mother  get 
ting  her  dower  rights.  If  you  do  not  show 
the  qualities  I  hope,  the  will  shall  stand.  If 
you  do,  I  shall  make  another,  giving  you  your 
own  share  plus  what  I  had  intended  for 
James." 

Walter  is  a  square-shouldered  youth  of 
medium  height,  with  irregular,  rather  com 
monplace  features,  a  rough  skin,  and  an  un 
pleasant  habit  of  shifting  his  eyes  rapidly 
round  and  round  yours  as  you  talk  with  him 
— I  am  as  impartial  a  judge  of  my  own  fam 
ily  as  a  stranger  would  be.  Walter  has  been 
a  good  deal  of  a  sneak  all  his  life — at  least,  he 
was  up  to  the  time  when  a  man's  real  charac 
ter  disappears  behind  the  pose  he  adopts  to  face 
[79] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

and  fool  the  world  with.  "I  don't  know  what 
to  say,  sir,"  he  said  to  me  now.  "I'd  plead 
for  my  brother,  only  that  you  are  just  and 
must  have  done  what  was  right.  I  don't  know 
how  to  thank  you  for  the  chance  you're  giving 
me.  I  can't  hope  to  come  up  to  your  stand 
ards,  but  I'll  just  keep  on  trying  to  do  my 
best  to  please  you  and  show  my  gratitude  to 
you.  I  always  have  been  very  proud  of  being 
your  son.  It  will  make  me  doubly  proud  if 
I  can  win  your  confidence  so  that  you  will 
select  me  as  head  of  our  family  if  it  should 
ever  need  another  head.  But  all  that's  too  far 
away  to  think  about." 

I  was  much  pleased  by  the  modesty  and 
sound  sense  of  what  he  said,  and  from  that 
moment  have  been  taking  a  less  unfavourable 
view  of  him.  Indeed,  it  seems  to  me  that  I 
was  unjust  to  him  in  my  partiality  for  his 
brother.  I  exaggerated  Jim's  impudence  into 
[80] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

courage,  Walter's  diplomacy  into  cringing 
cowardice.  This  is  another  illustration  of  how 
careful  a  man  should  be  not  to  let  his  hopes 
and  desires  blind  him.  I  had  been  refusing 
to  see  what  a  wretched,  untrustworthy  scoun 
drel  James  was,  all  because  I  wished  my  elder 
son  and  namesake  to  be  my  principal  heir  and 
had  made  up  my  mind  that  he  must  be  worthy 
of  the  honour. 

There  was  only  one  point  left  unguarded — 
lest  his  mother  should,  in  her  weakness  for  her 
first-born,  secretly  supply  him  with  money.  I 
might  have  been  powerless  to  prevent  this, 
though  I  had  determined  to  take  from  her  all 
power  over  the  domestic  expenditures  and  put 
it  in  the  hands  of  Burridge,  in  order  that  she 
might  have  as  few  spare  dollars  as  possible. 
I  knew  I  could  count  on  her  not  sacrificing 
her  personal  vanity  to  keep  him  in  funds.  But 
with  characteristic  folly  James  shut  his  one 
[81] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

door  upon  himself  and  spared  me  the  trouble 
of  watching  his  mother. 

She  came  to  town  Thursday  last  and  sent 
for  me.  I  went  up  to  the  house  for  luncheon 
with  her.  As  soon  as  she  heard  that  I  was 
there  she  joined  me  in  the  library.  Her  face 
was  stern  and  hard.  "Read  this,"  she  said, 
handing  me  a  letter.  It  was  in  James's  hand 
writing  : 

Mother  dear:  You  don't  know  Theodora,  or  you 
couldn't  have  written  what  you  did  about  her.  You 
will  love  her — no  one  can  help  loving  her  who  knows 
her.  We  were  married  this  morning.  When  will  you 
come  and  let  me  show  her  what  a  beautiful,  good 
mother  I  have?  I  know  you'll  come  as  soon  as  ever 
you  can.  JIM. 

"Theodora?"    I    said — I    couldn't   imagine 
whom  he  had  induced  to  share  his  poverty. 
"Theodora  Glendenning,"  she  replied. 

"The  miserable  boy!"  I  exclaimed,  forget- 
[82] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

ting  for  an  instant  that  he  is  nothing  to  me. 
Theodora  Glendenning  was  a  widow,  an  ad 
venturess  from  heaven  knows  where.  She  had 
obtained  a  slight  footing  in  fairly  good  New 
York  society  a  few  years  before,  as  a  young 
girl,  and  had  been  invited  to  one  or  two  first- 
class  houses.  She  was  good-looking,  had  the 
ways  and  voice  of  a  siren,  and  a  certain  plaus 
ible  sweetness  and  gentleness.  She  trapped 
young  Nick  Glendenning.  His  family 
promptly  cast  him  off  and  they  sank  into 
obscurity,  living  on  the  income  of  the  few 
hundred  thousands  he  had  inherited  from  a 
grandaunt.  Then  he  died.  We  did  not  know 
where  or  how  James  met  her. 

"He  wrote  me  on  Tuesday,"  said  my  wife, 
"that  he'd  been  engaged  to  Theodora  for  six 
months.  It  is  infamous.  I  wrote  him  that,  if 
he  sacrificed  all  his  chances  for  position  and 
recognition  in  New  York  by  marrying  an 
[83] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

adventuress,  he  needn't  expect  me  to  do  any 
thing  for  him." 

"Now  you  realise  that  I  knew  what  I  was 
about  when  I  shook  him  off,"  I  said. 

"Yes,  James.  And  after  all  the  care  I  gave 
him,  after  all  I  did  for  him!  To  defy  me,  to 
trample  on  my  love,  and  marry  that  worthless 
nobody  with  her  beggarly  income!  I  had  ar 
ranged  for  him  to  marry  Natalie  Bradish. 
She'd  have  helped  us  with  her  splendid 
family." 

I  smiled.  "She  wouldn't  have  had  him,  my 
dear,"  I  said;  "she  will  marry  Walter." 

"No — she  would  have  married  James.  She 
was  crazy  about  him." 

This  amazed  me — women  are  always  think 
ing  each  other  sentimental,  yet  every  woman 
ought  to  know  that  at  bottom  all  women  are 
sensible  and  never  take  their  eyes  off  the  main 
chance.  But  I  said  nothing.  I  was  too  well 
[84] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

content  with  matters  as  they  stood.  Women 
are  so  perverse  that  had  I  joined  her  just  then 
in  attacking  James  she  might  have  veered 
round  to  him  again  on  impulse. 

Now  that  he  has  thwarted  her  ambitions  for 
him,  and  for  herself  through  him,  she  will  be 
bitter  in  her  hate  where  I  shall  be  calm  in  mine. 
She  had  her  whole  heart  in  the  social  strength 
she  was  to  gain  by  his  making  a  brilliant  mar 
riage.  He  has  crushed  her  heart,  has  killed 
the  affection  she  had  for  him.  She  would 
have  forgiven  him  anything  but  a  wife  offen 
sive  to  her. 

I  don't  altogether  like  the  idea  of  this  sort 
of  mother  love.  Men  should  be  just;  but 
women  should  be  merciful  and  loving.  New 
York  and  wealth  and  the  social  struggle  have 
made  her  too  hard.  However,  I'm  not  quar 
relling  seriously  with  what  works  so  admirably 
for  my  purpose  as  to  James.  Our  common 
[85] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

disaster  in  him  will  draw  us  nearer  together 
than  we  have  been  for  years — at  least  until 
the  next  wrangle  over  an  expense  account. 
For  years  we  have  had  opposite  interests — I, 
to  restrain  her;  she,  to  outwit  me.  Now  we 
again  have  a  common  interest,  and  it  is  com 
mon  interest  that  makes  husband  and  wife  live 
together  in  harmonious  peace. 

Nothing  happens  with  me  as  with  ordinary 
human  beings.  What  could  be  stranger  than 
that  my  new  era  of  domestic  quiet  should  be 
founded,  not  upon  love  or  affection  or  feel 
ings  of  that  sort,  but  upon  hate — upon  my 
and  her  common  hate  for  our  unworthy  elder 
son? 


[86] 


Ill 

It  has  been  two  years  and  five  months  since 
I  expelled  James,  yet  my  dissatisfaction  with 
Walter  has  not  decreased. 

No  doubt  this  is  due  in  part  to  the  grudge 
a  man  of  my  age  who  loves  power  and  wealth 
must  have  against  the  impatient  waiter  for  his 
throne  and  sceptre.  No  doubt,  also,  age  and 
long  familiarity  with  power  have  made  me, 
perhaps,  too  critical  of  my  fellow-beings  and 
too  sensitive  to  their  shortcomings.  But,  after 
all  allowances,  I  have  real  ground  for  my  feel 
ing  toward  Walter. 

My  principal  heir  and  successor,  who  is  to 
sustain  my  dignity  after  I  am  gone,  and  to 
maintain  my  name  in  the  exalted  position  to 
which  my  wealth  and  genius  have  raised  it, 
[87] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

should  have,  above  all  else,  two  qualifications 
—character  and  an  air  of  distinction. 

Walter  has  neither. 

My  wife  defends  him  for  his  lack  of  dis 
tinction  in  manner  and  look  by  saying  that  I 
have  crushed  him.  "How  could  he  have  the 
distinction  you  wish,"  she  says,  "when  he  has 
grown  in  the  shadow  of  such  a  big,  masterful, 
intolerant  personality  as  yours?"  There  is 
justice  in  this.  I  admire  distinction,  or  indi 
viduality,  but  at  a  distance.  I  cannot  tolerate 
it  in  my  immediate  neighbourhood.  There  it 
tempts  me  to  crush  it.  I  suspect  that  it  would 
have  exasperated  me  even  in  one  of  my  own 
flesh  and  blood.  Indeed,  at  bottom,  that  may 
have  had  something  to  do  with  the  beginnings 
of  my  break  with  James. 

But  whatever  excuse  there  may  be  for  Wal 
ter's  shifty,  smirking,  deprecating  personality, 
which  seems  to  me,  at  times,  not  a  peg  above 
[88] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

the  personality  of  a  dancing-master,  there  is 
no  excuse  whatsoever  for  his  lack  of  character. 
I  rarely  talk  to  him  so  long  as  ten  minutes 
without  catching  him  in  a  lie — usually  a  silly 
lie,  about  nothing  at  all.  In  money  matters 
he  is  not  sensibly  prudent,  but  downright  mis 
erly.  That  is  not  an  unnatural  quality  in  age, 
for  then  the  time  for  setting  the  house  in 
order  is  short.  An  avaricious  young  man  is  a 
monstrosity.  I  suppose  that  avarice  is  almost 
inseparable  from  great  wealth,  or  even  from 
the  expectation  of  inheriting  it.  Just  as 
power  makes  a  man  greedy  of  power,  so  riches 
make  a  man  greedy  of  riches.  But,  granting 
that  Walter  has  to  be  avaricious,  why  hasn't 
he  the  wit  to  conceal  it?  It  gives  me  no  pleas 
ure,  nowadays,  to  give;  in  fact,  it  makes  me 
suffer  to  see  anything  going  out,  unless  I  know 
it  is  soon  to  return  bringing  a  harvest  after  its 
kind.  Yet,  I  give — at  least,  I  have  given,  and 
[89] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

that  liberally.  Walter  need  not  have  made 
himself  so  noted  and  disliked  for  stinginess 
that  he  has  been  able  to  get  into  only  one  of 
the  three  fashionable  clubs  I  wished  him  to 
join — and  that  one  the  least  desirable. 

His  mother  says  he  was  excluded  because 
the  best  people  of  our  class  resent  my  having 
elbowed  and  trampled  my  way  into  power  too 
vigorously,  and  with  too  few  "beg  pardons," 
and  "if  you  pleases."  Perhaps  my  courage 
in  taking  my  own  frankly  wherever  I  found  it 
may  have  made  his  admission  difficult,  just  as 
it  has  made  our  social  progress  slow.  But  it 
would  not  have  excluded  him — would  not  have 
made  him  patently  unpopular  where  my 
money  and  the  fear  of  me  gains  him  tolera 
tion.  A  very  few  dollars  judiciously  spent 
would  have  earned  him  the  reputation  of  a 
good  fellow,  generous  and  free-handed. 

Your  poor  chap  has  to  fling  away  every- 
[90] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

thing  he's  got  to  get  that  name,  but  a  rich  man 
can  get  it  for  what,  to  him,  is  a  trifle.  By 
means  of  a  smile  or  a  dinner  I'd  have  to  pay 
for  anyhow,  or  perhaps  by  allowing  him  to 
ride  a  few  blocks  beside  me  in  my  brougham 
or  victoria,  I  send  a  grumbler  away  trumpet 
ing  my  praises.  I  throw  an  industry  into  con 
fusion  to  get  possession  of  it,  and  then  I  give 
a  twentieth  of  the  profits  to  some  charity  or 
college;  instead  of  a  chorus  of  curses,  I  get 
praise,  or,  at  worst,  silence.  The  public  lays 
what  it  is  pleased  to  call  the  "crime"  upon  the 
corporation  I  own;  the  benefaction  is  credited 
to  me  personally. 

Nor  has  Walter  the  excuse  for  his  lying  and 
shifting  and  other  moral  lapses  that  a  man 
who  is  making  his  way  could  plead. 

I  did  many  things  in  my  early  days  which 
I'd  scorn  to  do  now.  I  did  them  only  because 
they  were  necessary  to  my  purpose.  Walter 
[91] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

has  not  the  slightest  provocation.  When  his 
mother  says,  "But  he  does  those  things  be 
cause  he's  afraid  of  you,"  she  talks  nonsense. 
The  truth  is  that  he  has  a  moral  twist.  It  is 
one  thing  for  a  clear-sighted  man  of  high 
purpose  and  great  firmness,  like  myself,  to 
adopt  indirect  measures  as  a  temporary  and 
desperate  expedient;  it's  vastly  different  for 
a  Walter,  with  everything  provided  for  him, 
to  resort  to  such  measures  voluntarily  and 
habitually. 

Sometimes  I  think  he  must  have  been  cre 
ated  during  one  of  my  periods  of  advance  by 
ambuscade. 

How  ridiculous  to  fall  out  with  honesty  and 
truth  when  there's  any  possible  way  of  avoid 
ing  it!  To  do  so  is  to  use  one's  last  reserves 
at  the  beginning  of  a  battle  instead  of  at  the 
crisis. 

However,  it's  Walter  or  nobody.  I  cannot 
[92] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

abandon  my  life's  ambition,  the  perpetuation 
of  my  fortune  and  fame  in  a  family  line. 
Next  to  its  shortness,  life's  greatest  tragedy 
for  men  of  my  kind  is  the  wretched  tools  with 
which  we  must  work.  All  my  days  I've  been 
a  giant,  doing  a  giant's  work  with  a  pygmy's 
puny  tools.  Now,  with  the  end — no,  not  near, 
but  not  so  far  away  as  it  was— 

Just  as  I  got  home  from  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce  dinner  two  weeks  ago  to-night,  my 
wife  was  coming  down  to  go  to  Mrs.  Garret- 
son's  ball.  The  great  hall  of  my  house,  with 
its  costly  tapestries  and  carpets  and  statuary, 
is  a  source  of  keen  pleasure  to  me.  I  don't 
think  I  ever  enter  it,  except  when  I'm  much 
preoccupied,  that  I  don't  look  round  and  draw 
in  some  such  satisfaction  as  a  toper  gets  from 
a  brimming  glass  of  whiskey.  But,  for  that 
matter,  all  the  luxuries  and  comforts  which 
wealth  gives  me  are  a  steady  source  of  grati- 
[93] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

fication.  The  children  of  a  man  who  rose 
from  poverty  to  wealth  may  possibly — I 
doubt  it — have  the  physical  gratification  in 
wealth  blunted.  But  the  man  who  does  the 
rising  has  it  as  keen  on  the  last  day  of  healthy 
life  as  on  the  first  day  he  became  the  owner  of 
a  carriage  with  somebody  in  his  livery  to  drive 
him. 

As  my  wife  came  down  the  wide  marble 
stairs  the  great  hall  became  splendid.  I  had 
to  stop  and  admire  her,  or,  rather,  the  way  she 
shone  and  sparkled  and  blazed,  becapped  and 
bedecked  and  bedraped  with  jewels  as  she 
was.  I  have  an  eye  that  sees  everything; 
that's  why  I'm  accused  of  being  ferociously 
critical.  I  saw  that  there  was  something  in 
congruous  in  her  appearance — something  that 
jarred.  A  second  glance  showed  me  that  it 
was  the  contrast  between  her  rubies  and  dia 
monds,  in  bands,  in  clusters,  and  in  ropes,  and 
[94] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

her  fading  physical  charms.  She  is  not  alto 
gether  faded  yet — she  is  fifty  to  my  sixty-four 
— and  she  has  been  for  years  spending  several 
hours  a  day  with  masseuses,  complexion-spe 
cialists,  hair-doctors,  and  others  of  that  kind. 
But  she  has  reached  the  age  where,  in  spite  of 
doctoring  and  dieting  and  deception,  there  are 
many  and  plain  signs  of  that  double  tragedy 
of  a  handsome,  vain  woman's  life — on  the  one 
hand,  the  desperate  fight  to  make  youth  re 
main;  on  the  other  hand,  the  desperate  fight 
to  hide  from  the  world  the  fact  that  it  is  about 
to  depart  for  ever. 

Naturally  it  depressed  me  that  I  could  no 
longer  think  with  pride  of  her  beauty,  and  of 
how  it  was  setting  off  my  wealth.  I  must 
have  shown  what  I  was  thinking,  for  she 
looked  at  me,  first  with  anxious  inquiry,  then 
with  frightened  suspicion,  as  if  guessing  my 
thoughts. 

[95] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

Poor  woman!    I  felt  sorry  for  her. 

Her  life,  for  the  past  twenty  years,  has  been 
based  wholly  on  vanity.  The  look  in  my  face 
told  her,  perhaps  a  few  weeks  earlier  than  she 
would  have  learned  it  from  her  mirror  or  some 
malicious  bosom  friend,  that  the  basis  of  her 
life  was  swept  away,  and  that  her  happiness 
was  ended.  She  hurried  past  me,  spoke  sav 
agely  to  the  four  men-servants  who  were 
jostling  one  another  in  trying  to  help  her  to 
her  carriage,  and  drove  away  in  her  grandeur 
to  the  ball,  probably  as  miserable  a  creature 
as  there  was  on  Manhattan  Island  that  night. 

I  went  up  to  my  apartment,  half  depressed, 
half  amused — I  have  too  keen  a  sense  of  hu 
mour  not  to  be  amused  whenever  I  see  vanity 
take  a  tumble.  As  I  reached  my  sitting-room 
I  was  in  the  full  swing  of  my  moralisings  on 
the  physical  vanity  of  women,  and  on  their 
silliness  in  setting  store  by  their  beauty  after 
[96] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

it  has  served  its  sole,  legitimate,  really  useful 
purpose — has  caught  them  husbands.  Only 
mischief  can  come  of  beauty  in  a  married 
woman.  She  should  give  it  up,  retire  to  her 
home,  and  remain  there  until  it  is  time  for  her 
to  bring  out  and  marry  off  her  grown  sons 
and  daughters.  If  my  wife  hadn't  been  hand 
some  she  might  have  done  this,  and  so  might 
have  continued  to  shine  in  her  proper  sphere 
—the  care  of  her  household  and  her  children, 
the  comfort  of  her  husband. 

As  I  reached  this  point  in  my  mpralisings 
I  caught  sight  of  my  own  face  by  the  power 
ful  light  over  my  shaving  glass. 

I've  never  taken  any  great  amount  of  in 
terest  in  my  face,  or  anybody  else's.  I've  no 
belief  in  the  theory  that  you  can  learn  much 
from  your  adversary's  expression.  In  a  sense, 
the  face  is  the  map  of  the  mind.  But  the  map 
has  so  many  omissions  and  mismarkings,  all 
[97] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

at  important  points,  that  time  spent  in  study 
ing  it  is  time  wasted.  My  plan  has  been  to  go 
straight  along  my  own  line,  without  bother 
ing  my  head  about  the  other  fellow's  plans- 
much  less  about  his  looks.  I  think  my  millions 
prove  me  right. 

As  I  was  saying,  I  saw  my  face — suddenly, 
with  startling  clearness,  and  when  my  mind 
was  on  the  subject  of  faces.  The  sight  gave 
me  a  shock — not  because  my  expression  was 
sardonic  and — yes,  I  shall  confess  it — cruel 
and  bitterly  unhappy.  The  shock  came  in 
that,  before  I  recognised  myself,  I  had  said, 
"Who  is  this  old  man?" 

The  glass  reflected  wrinkles,  bags,  creases, 
hollows — signs  of  the  old  age  of  a  hard,  fierce 
life. 

Curiously,    my   first   comment   on   myself, 
seen  as  others  saw  me,  was  a  stab  into  my 
physical  vanity — not  a  very  deep  stab,   but 
[98] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

deep  enough  to  mock  my  self-complacent 
jeers  at  my  wife.  Then  I  went  on  to  wonder 
why  I  had  not  before  understood  the  reason 
for  many  things  I've  done  of  late. 

For  example,  I  hadn't  realised  why  I  put 
five  hundred  thousand  dollars  into  a  mauso 
leum.  I  did  it  without  the  faintest  notion  that 
my  instinctive  self  was  saying,  "You'd  better 
see  to  it  at  once  that  you'll  be  fittingly  housed 
—some  day."  Again,  I  hadn't  understood 
why  it  was  becoming  so  hard  for  me  to  per 
suade  myself  to  keep  up  my  public  gifts. 

I  have  always  seen  that  for  us  men  of  great 
wealth  gifts  are  not  merely  a  wise,  but  a  vitally 
necessary,  investment. 

Jack  Ridley  insists  that  I  exaggerate  the 
envy  the  lower  classes  feel  for  us.  "You  rich 
men  think  others  are  like  yourselves,"  he  says. 
"Because  all  your  thoughts  are  of  money,  you 
fancy  the  rest  of  the  world  is  equally  narrow 
[99] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

and  spends  most  of  its  time  in  hating  you  and 
plotting  against  you.  Why,  the  fact  is  that 
rich  men  envy  one  another  more  than  the  poor 
envy  them."  There's  some  truth  in  this.  The 
fellow  with  one  million  enviously  hates  the 
fellow  with  ten;  as  for  most  fellows  with 
twenty  or  thirty,  they  can  hardly  bear  to  hear 
the  fellows  with  fifty  or  sixty  spoken  of.  But, 
in  the  main,  Jack  is  wrong.  I've  not  forgot 
ten  how  I  used  to  feel  when  I  had  a  few  hun 
dred  a  year;  and  so  I  know  what's  going  on 
in  the  heads  of  people  when  they  bow  and 
scrape  and  speak  softly,  as  they  do  to  me.  It 
means  that  they're  envying  and  are  only  too 
eager  to  find  an  excuse  for  hating.  They 
want  me  to  think  that  they  like  me. 

I  used  to  give  chiefly  because  I  liked  the 

fame  it  brought  me — also,  a  little,  because  it 

made  me  feel  that  I  was  balancing  my  rather 

ruthless  financial  methods  by  doing  vast  good 

[100] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

with  what  many  would  have  kept  selfishly  to 
the  last  penny.  Latterly  my  chief  motive  has 
been  more  substantial;  and  I  wonder  how  I 
could  have  let  wealth-hunger  so  blind  me,  as 
it  has  in  the  past  four  or  five  years,  that  I  have 
haggled  over  and  cut  my  public  gifts. 

The  very  day  after  I  saw  my  face  in  the 
mirror  I  definitely  committed  myself  to  my 
long  tentatively  promised  gift  of  an  additional 
four  millions  to  the  university  which  bears  my 
name.  I  also  arranged  to  get  those  four  mill 
ions — but  that  comes  later.  Finally,  I  began 
to  hasten  my  son  Walter's  marriage  to  Natalie 
B  radish. 

My  son  Walter! 

It  certainly  isn't  lack  of  shrewdness  that 
unfits  him  to  be  head  of  the  family.  Why  do 
the  qualities  we  most  admire  in  ourselves,  and 
find  most  useful  there,  so  often  irritate  and 
even  disgust  us  in  another? 
[101] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

I  have  not  told  him  that  he  is  already  the 
principal  heir  under  the  terms  of  my  will. 
He  will  work  harder  to  please  me  so  long  as 
he  thinks  the  prize  still  withheld — still  to  be 
earned.  He  does  not  know  how  firmly  my 
mind  is  set  against  James.  So  he  never  loses 
an  opportunity  to  clinch  my  purpose.  One 
day  last  week,  in  presence  of  his  sister 
Aurora,  I  was  reproving  him  for  one  of  his 
many  shortcomings,  and,  to  enforce  my  re 
proof,  was  warning  him  that  such  conduct  did 
not  advance  him  toward  the  place  from  which 
his  brother  had  been  deposed. 

His  upper  lip  always  twitches  when  he  is 
about  to  launch  one  of  those  bits  of  craftiness 
he  thinks  so  profound.  The  longer  I  live,  the 
deeper  is  my  contempt  for  craft — it  so  rarely 
fails  to  tangle  and  strangle  itself  in  its  own 
unwieldy  nets.  After  his  lip  had  twitched 
awhile,  he  looked  furtively  at  Aurora.  I 
[102] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

looked  also,  and  saw  that  she  was  a  partner 
in  his  scheme,  whatever  it  was. 

"Well!"  said  I,  impatiently,  "what  is  it? 
Speak  out!" 

"You  spoke  of  the  position  James  lost,"  he 
forced  himself  to  say;  "there  wasn't  any  such 
place,  was  there,  Aurora?" 

"No,"  she  answered;  "James  was  deceiving 
you  right  along." 

"What  do  you  mean?"  I  demanded. 

Aurora  looked  nervously  at  Walter,  and  he 
said:  "James  often  used  to  talk  to  us  about 
your  plans,  and  he  always  said  that  he 
wouldn't  let  you  make  him  your  principal 
heir.  He  said  he  would  disregard  your  will 
and  would  just  divide  the  money  up,  giving 
a  third  to  mother  and  making  all  us  children 
equal  heirs  with  him." 

It  is  amazing  how  the  most  astute  man  will 
overlook  the  simplest  and  plainest  dangers. 
[  103  ] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

In  all  my  thinking  and  planning  on  the  sub 
ject  of  founding  a  family.  I  had  never 
once  thought  of  the  possibility  of  my  will 
being  voluntarily  broken  by  its  chief  bene 
ficiary. 

"What  reason  did  he  give?"  I  asked,  for  I 
could  conceive  no  reason  whatsoever. 

Aurora  and  Walter  were  silent.  Walter 
looked  as  if  he  wished  he  had  not  launched  his 
torpedo  at  James. 

"What  reason,  Aurora?"  I  insisted. 

She  flushed  and  stammered:  "He  said  he — 
he  didn't  want  to  be  hated  by  mother  and  the 
rest  of  us.  He  said  we'd  have  the  right  to 
hate  him,  and  couldn't  help  it  if  he  should  be 
low  enough  to  profit  by  your — your " 

"My— what?" 

"Your  heartlessness." 

"And  do  you  think  my  plan  was  heartless?" 
I  asked. 

[104] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

"No,"  said  Aurora,  but  I  saw  that  she 
thought  "Yes." 

"You've  a  right  to  do  as  you  wish  with  your 
own,"  said  Walter.  "We  know  you'll  do  what 
is  for  the  best  interest  of  us  all.  Even  if  you 
should  leave  us  nothing,  we'd  still  be  in  your 
debt.  You  owe  us  nothing,  father.  We  owe 
you  everything." 

Although  this  was  simply  a  statement  of  a 
truth  which  I  hold  to  be  fundamental,  it  irri 
tated  me  to  hear  him  say  it.  I  know  too  well 
what  havoc  self-interest  works  in  the  sense  of 
right  and  wrong,  and  Walter  would  be  the 
first  of  my  children  to  insult  my  memory  if 
he  were  to  get  less  by  a  penny  than  any  other 
of  the  family.  Had  I  been  concerning  myself 
about  what  my  wife  and  my  children  would 
think  of  me  after  I  was  gone,  I  should  never 
have  entertained  the  idea  of  founding  a  fam 
ily.  But  men  of  large  view  and  large  wealth 
[105] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

and  large  ambition  do  not  heed  these  minor 
matters.  When  it  comes  to  human  beings, 
they  deal  in  generals,  not  in  particulars. 

A  fine  world  we  should  have  if  the  masters 
of  it  consulted  the  feelings  of  those  whom  des 
tiny  compels  them  to  use  or  to  discard. 

I  looked  at  this  precious  pair  of  plotters 
satirically.  "Naturally,"  said  I,  "you  never 
spoke  to  me  of  James's  purpose  so  long  as 
there  was  a  chance  of  your  profiting  by  his 
intended  treachery  to  me."  Then  to  Aurora  I 
added:  "I  understand  now  why,  for  several 
months  after  James  left,  you  persisted  in  beg 
ging  me  to  take  him  back." 

Aurora  burst  into  tears.  As  tears  irritate 
me,  I  left  the  room.  Thinking  over  the  scan 
dalous  exhibition  of  cupidity  which  these  chil 
dren  of  mine  had  given,  I  was  almost  tempted 
to  tear  up  my  will  and  make  a  new  one  creat 
ing  a  vast  public  institution  that  would  bear 
[106] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

my  name,  and  endowing  it  with  the  bulk  of 
my  wealth.  I  have  often  wondered  why  an 
occasional  man  of  great  wealth  has  done  this. 
I  now  have  no  doubt  that  usually  it  has  been 
because  he  was  disgusted  by  the  revolting 
greediness  of  his  natural  heirs.  If  rich  men 
should  generally  adopt  this  course,  I  suspect 
their  funerals  would  have  less  of  the  air  of 
sunshine  bursting  through  black  clouds — it's 
particularly  noticeable  in  the  carriages  im 
mediately  behind  the  hearse. 

Jack  Ridley  says  my  sense  of  humour  is  like 
an  Apache's.  Perhaps  that's  why  the  idea  of 
a  posthumous  joke  of  this  kind  tickles  me 
immensely.  Were  I  not  a  serious  man,  with 
serious  purposes  in  the  world,  I  might  per 
petrate  it. 

The  net  result  of  Walter  and  Aurora's 
effort  to  advance  themselves — I  wonder  what 
Walter  promised  Aurora  that  induced  her  to 
[107] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

aid  him? — was  that  I  formed  a  new  plan.  I 
resolved  that  Walter  should  marry  at  once. 
As  soon  as  he  has  a  male  child  I  shall  make  a 
new  will  leaving  it  the  bulk  of  my  estate,  and 
giving  Walter  only  the  control  of  the  income 
for  life — or  until  the  child  shall  have  become 
a  man  thirty  years  old. 

That  evening  I  ordered  him  to  arrange 
with  Natalie  for  a  wedding  within  two 
months.  I  knew  he  would  see  her  at  the 
opera,  as  my  wife  had  invited  her  to  my  box. 
I  intended  to  ask  him  in  the  morning  what  he 
and  she  had  settled  upon,  but  before  I  had  a 
chance  I  saw  in  my  paper  a  piece  of  news  that 
put  him  and  her  out  of  my  mind  for  the 
moment. 

James,  so  the  paper  said,  was  critically  ill 
with  pneumonia  at  his  house  in  East  Sixty- 
third  Street,  near  Fifth  Avenue.  He  has 
lived  there  ever  since  he  was  married,  and  has 
[108] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

kept  up  a  considerable  establishment.  I  am 
certain  that  his  wife's  dresses  and  entertain 
ments  are  part  of  the  cause  of  my  wife's  rapid 
aging.  Really,  her  hatred  of  that  woman 
amounts  to  insanity.  It  amazes  me,  used  as 
I  am  to  the  irrational  emotions  of  women.  I 
could  understand  her  being  exasperated  by  the 
social  success  of  James  and  his  wife.  I  con 
fess  that  it  has  exasperated  me — almost  as 
much  as  has  his  preposterous  luck  in  Wall 
Street.  But  there  is  undeniably  a  better  ex 
planation  than  luck  for  his  and  her  social  suc 
cess.  They  say  she  has  beauty  and  charm,  and 
her  entertainments  show  originality  and  talent, 
while  my  wife's  are  commonplace  and  dull,  in 
spite  of  the  money  she  lavishes.  But,  in  addi 
tion  to  those  reasons,  there  are  many  of  the 
upper-class  people  who  hate  me.  Mine  is  a 
pretty  big  omelet;  there  is  a  lot  of  eggs  in  it; 
and,  with  every  broken  egg,  somebody,  usu- 
[109] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 
ally    somebody    high    up,     felt    robbed    or 
cheated. 

But  I  did  not  trust  to  my  wife's  insane  hate 
for  James's  wife  to  keep  her  away  from  her 
son  in  his  illness.  I  went  straight  to  her.  "I 
see  that  James  is  ill,  or  pretends  to  be,"  I  said. 
"Probably  he  and  his  wife  are  plotting  a 
reconciliation." 

My  wife  has  learned  to  mask  her  feelings 
behind  a  cold,  expressionless  face;  but  she  has 
also  learned  to  obey  me.  She  often  threatens, 
but  she  dares  not  act.  I  know  it — and  she 
knows  that  I  know  it. 

"You  will  not  go  to  him  under  any  circum 
stances,"  I  went  on — "neither  you  nor  any  of 
the  rest  of  us.  If  you  disobey,  I  shall  at  once 
rearrange  my  domestic  finances.  Thereafter 
you  will  go  to  Burridge  for  money  whenever 
you  want  to  buy  so  much  as  a  paper  of 
pins." 

[110] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

She  was  white — perhaps  with  fury,  perhaps 
with  dread,  perhaps  with  both.  I  said  no 
more,  but  left  her  as  soon  as  I  saw  that  she 
did  not  intend  to  reply.  Toward  six  o'clock 
that  evening  I  met  Walter  in  the  main  hall  of 
the  first  bedroom  floor.  He  was  for  hurrying 
by  me,  but  I  stopped  him.  I  have  an  instinct 
which  tells  me  unerringly  when  to  ask  a  ques 
tion. 

"Where  are  you  going?"  I  asked. 

He  shifted  from  leg  to  leg;  he,  like  most 
people,  is  never  quite  at  ease  in  my  presence; 
when  he  is  trying  to  conceal  some  specific 
thing  from  me  he  becomes  a  victim  of  a  sort 
of  suppressed  hysteria.  "To  the  drawing- 
room,"  he  answered. 

"Who's  there?"  said  I. 

He  shivered,  then  blurted  it  out:  "James's 
wife." 

"Why  didn't  you  tell  me  in  the  first  place?" 
[Ill] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

He  stammered:  "I — wished  to — to  spare 
you— the " 

"Bah!"  I  interrupted.  As  if  I  could  not 
read  in  his  face  that  her  coming  had  roused 
his  fears  of  a  reconciliation  with  James! 
"What  are  you  going  to  say  to  her?" 

"A  message  from  mother,"  he  muttered. 

"Have  you  seen  your  mother,  or  did  you 
make  up  the  message?" 

"A  servant  brought  mother  her  card  and  a 
note.  I  didn't  know  she  was  in  the  house  till 
mother  sent  for  me  and  gave  me  the  message 
to  take  down." 

"Will  your  mother  see  her?" 

"No,  indeed,"  he  replied,  recovered  some 
what;  "mother  won't  have  anything  to  do  with 
them." 

"Well,  go  on  and  deliver  your  message,"  I 
said;  "I'll  step  into  the  little  reception-room 
behind  the  drawing-room.  See  that  you 
[112] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 
speak   loud    enough    for   me    to   hear    every 
word." 

As  I  entered  the  reception-room,  he  entered 
the  drawing-room.  "Mother  says,"  he  said — 
naturally,  his  voice  was  ridiculously  loud  and 
nervous — "that  she  has  no  interest  in  the  in 
formation  you  sent  her,  and  no  acquaintance 
with  the  person  to  whom  it  relates." 

There  was  a  silence  so  long  that  curiosity 
made  me  move  within  range  of  one  of  the 
long  drawing-room  mirrors.  I  saw  her  and 
Walter  reflected,  facing  each  other.  She  was 
so  stationed  that  I  had  a  plain  view  of  her 
whole  figure  and  of  her  face — the  first  time 
I  had  ever  really  seen  her  face.  Her  figure 
was  drawn  to  its  full  height,  and  her  bosom 
was  rising  and  falling  rapidly.  Her  head 
was  thrown  back,  and  upon  poor  Walter  was 
beating  the  most  contemptuous  expression  I 
ever  saw  coming  from  human  eyes.  No  won- 
[113] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

der  even  his  back  showed  how  wilted  and  weak 
he  was. 

As  I  watched,  she  suddenly  turned  her 
eyes;  her  glance  met  mine  in  the  mirror.  Be 
fore  I  could  recover  and  completely  drive  the 
look  of  amusement  from  my  face,  she  had 
waved  Walter  aside  and  was  standing  in  front 
of  me.  "You  heard  what  your  son  said!"  she 
exclaimed;  "what  do  you  say?" 

I  liked  her  looks,  and  especially  liked  her 
voice.  It  was  clear.  It  was  magnetic.  It 
was  honest.  When  I  wish  to  separate  sheep 
from  goats  I  listen  to  their  voices,  for  voices 
do  not  often  lie. 

"I  refuse  to  believe  that  he  delivered  my 
note  to — to  James's  mother."  There  was  a 
break  in  her  voice  as  she  spoke  James's  name 
— it  distinctly  made  my  nerves  tingle,  un 
moved  though  my  mind  was.  "James  is— 
is—  '  she  went  on,  slowly,  but  not  unsteadily 
[114] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

— "the  doctors  say  there's  no  hope.  And  he 
— your  son — sent  me,  and  I  am  here  when — 
when — but — what  do  you  say?" 

It  is  extraordinary  what  power  there  is  in 
that  woman's  personality.  If  Walter  hadn't 
been  there  I  might  have  had  to  lash  myself 
into  a  fury  and  insult  her  to  save  myself  from 
being  swept  away.  As  it  was,  I  looked  at  her 
steadily,  then  rang  the  bell.  The  servant 
came. 

"Show  this  lady  out,"  I  said,  and  I  bowed 
and  went  to  Walter  in  the  drawing-room.  I 
can  only  imagine  how  she  must  have  felt. 
Nothing  frenzies  a  woman — or  a  man — so 
wildly  as  to  be  sent  away  from  a  "scene"  with 
out  a  single  insult  given  to  gloat  over  or  a 
single  insult  received  to  bite  on. 

The  morning  paper  confirmed  her  state 
ment  of  James's  condition.  In  fact,  I  didn't 
have  to  wait  until  then,  for  toward  twelve  that 
[115] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

night  I  heard  the  boys  in  the  street  bellowing 
an  "extra"  about  him — that  he  was  dying,  and 
that  none  of  his  family  had  visited  him. 
Those  whose  sense  of  justice  is  clouded  by 
their  feelings  will  be  unable  to  understand 
why  I  felt  no  inclination  to  yield.  Indeed,  I 
do  not  expect  to  be  understood  in  this  except 
by  those  of  my  class — the  men  whose  large 
responsibilities  and  duties  have  forced  them  to 
put  wholly  aside  those  feelings  in  which  the 
ordinary  run  of  mankind  may  indulge  without 
harm.  I  don't  deny  that  I  had  qualms.  I 
can  sympathise  now  with  those  kings  and 
great  men  who  have  been  forced  to  order 
their  sons  to  death.  And  I  have  charged 
against  James  the  pangs  he  then  caused 
me. 

In  the  superficial  view  it  may  seem  incon 
sistent  that,  while  I  stood  firm,  I  was  shocked 
by  my  wife's  insensibility.     I  had  to  do  my 
[116] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

duty,  but  she  should  have  found  it  impossible 
to  do  hers.  I  could  not,  of  course,  rebuke  her 
and  Aurora  for  not  transgressing  my  orders; 
but  all  that  night  and  all  the  next  day  I  won 
dered  at  their  hardness,  their  unwomanliness. 
It  seemed  to  me  another  illustration  of  the 
painful  side  of  wealth  and  position — their  de 
moralising  effect  upon  women. 

The  late  afternoon  papers  announced — 
truthfully — a  favourable  change  in  James's 
condition.  In  defiance  of  the  doctors'  decree 
of  death,  he  had  rallied.  "It  is  that  wife  of 
his,"  I  said  to  myself.  "Such  a  personality  is 
a  match  for  death  itself."  I  had  a  sense  of 
huge  relief.  Indeed,  it  was  not  until  I  knew 
James  wasn't  going  to  die  that  I  realised  how 
hard  a  fight  my  parental  instinct  had  made 
against  duty. 

If  I  had  liked  Walter  better  I  should  not 
have  been  thus  weak  about  James. 
[117] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

When  I  reached  home  and  was  about  to 
undress  for  my  bath  and  evening  change, 
my  daughter  Helen  knocked  and  entered. 
"Well?"  said  I. 

She  stood  before  me,  tall  and  slim  and 
golden  brown — the  colour  is  chiefly  in  her  hair 
and  lashes  and  brows,  but  there  is  a  golden 
brown  tinge  in  her  skin;  as  for  her  eyes,  they 
are  more  gold  than  brown,  I  think.  Her  dress 
reaches  to  her  shoe-tops.  With  her  hands 
clasped  in  front  of  her,  she  fixed  her  large, 
serious  eyes  upon  me. 

"I  went  to  see  James  this  morning,"  she 
said;  then  seemed  to  be  waiting — not  in  fear, 
but  in  courage — for  my  vengeance  to  de 
scend. 

I  scowled  and  turned  away  to  hide  the 
satisfaction  this  gave  me.  At  least  there 
is  one  female  in  my  family  with  a  woman's 
heart! 

[118] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

"Who  put  you  up  to  it?"  I  demanded, 
sharply. 

"Nobody.  I  heard  the  boys  calling  in  the 
street — and — I  went." 

I  turned  upon  her  and  looked  at  her  nar 
rowly.  "Why  do  you  tell  me?"  I  asked. 

"Because  not  to  have  told  you  would  have 
been  a  lie." 

She  said  this  quite  simply.  I  had  never 
been  so  astonished  before  in  my  life.  "And 
what  of  that?"  said  I — a  shameful  question 
under  the  circumstances  to  put  to  a  child;  but 
I  was  completely  off  my  guard,  and  I  couldn't 
believe  there  was  not  an  underlying  motive  of 
practical  gain. 

"I  do  not  care  to  lie,"  she  answered,  her  eyes 
upon  mine.  I  found  her  look  hard  to  with 
stand — a  new  experience  for  me,  as  I  can 
usually  compel  any  one's  gaze  to  shift. 

"You're  a  good  child,"  said  I,  patting  her 
[119] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

on  the  shoulder.    "I  shall  not  punish  you  this 
time.    You  may  go." 

She  flushed  to  the  line  of  her  hair,  and  her 
eyes  blazed.  She  drew  herself  away  from  my 
hand  and  left  me  staring  after  her,  more  as 
tonished  than  before. 

A  strange  person — surely,  a  personality! 
She  will  be  troublesome  some  day — soon. 

With  such  beauty  and  such  fine  presence  she 
ought  to  make  a  magnificent  marriage. 

I  was  free  to  take  up  Walter  and  Natalie 
again.  After  dinner  I  said  to  him,  as  we  sat 
smoking:  "Have  you  spoken  to  Natalie? 
What  does  she  say?  What  date  did  you  set 
tle  upon?" 

He  looked  sheepishly  from  Burridge  to 
Ridley,  then  appealingly  at  me.  I  laughed  at 
this  affectation  of  delicacy,  but  I  humoured 
him  by  sending  them  away.  "What  date?"  I 
repeated. 

[120] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

He  twitched  more  than  usual  before  he  suc 
ceeded  in  saying:  "She  refuses  to  decide  just 
yet." 

"Why?"  I  demanded. 

"She  says  she  doesn't  want  to  settle  down 
so  young." 

"Young!"  I  exclaimed.  "Why,  she's  twen 
ty-one — out  three  seasons.  What's  the  matter 
with  you,  that  you  haven't  got  her  half  fright 
ened  to  death  lest  she'll  lose  you?"  With  all 
he  has  to  offer  through  being  my  son  and  my 
principal  heir  he  ought  to  be  able  to  settle 
the  marriage  on  his  own  terms  in  every  re 
spect — and  to  keep  the  whip  for  ever  after 
ward. 

"I  don't  know,"  he  replied;  "she  just  won't. 
I  don't  think  she  cares  much  about — about  the 
marriage." 

This  was  too  feeble  and  foolish  to  answer. 
There  isn't  a  more  sensible,  better-brought-up 
[121] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

girl  in  New  York  than  Natalie.  Her  mother 
began  training  her  in  the  cradle  to  look  for 
ward  to  being  mistress  of  a  great  fortune.  I 
knew  she,  and  her  mother  and  father  too,  had 
fixed  on  mine  as  the  fortune  as  long  ago  as 
five  years — she  was  only  sixteen  when  I  my 
self  noted  her  making  eyes  at  Jim  and  never 
losing  a  chance  to  ingratiate  herself  with  me. 
Her  temporising  with  Walter  convinced  me 
there  was  something  wrong — and  I  suspected 
what.  I  went  to  see  her,  and  got  her  to  take 
a  drive  with  me. 

As  my  victoria  entered  the  Park  I  began: 
"What's  the  matter,  Natalie?  Why  won't 
you  'name  the  day'?  We're  old  friends.  You 
can  talk  to  me  as  freely  as  to  your  own 
father." 

"I  know  it,"  she  replied;  "you've  always 
been  so  good  to  me — and  you  are  so  kind  and 
generous."  There  isn't  a  better  manner  any- 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

where  than  Natalie's.     She  has  a  character  as 
strong  and  fine  as  her  face. 

"I'm  getting  old,"  I  went  on,  "and  I  want 
to  see  my  boy  settled.  I  want  to  see  you  my 
daughter,  ready  to  take  up  your  duties  as  head 
of  my  house." 

"Don't  try  to  hurry  me,"  she  said,  a  trace 
of  irritation  in  her  voice.  "I'm  only  twenty- 
one.  I  wish  to  have  a  little  pleasure  before 
I  become  as  serious  as  I'll  have  to  be  when  I'm 
— your  daughter." 

I  noticed  that  she  pointedly  avoided  saying 
"Walter's  wife."  This  confirmed  my  sus 
picion.  The  habit  of  judging  everything  and 
everybody  calmly  and  dispassionately  has 
made  me  see  the  members  of  my  own  family 
just  as  I  see  outsiders.  And  I  couldn't  blame 
her  for  balking  at  Walter,  exasperating 
though  it  was  to  have  her  thus  impede  my 
plans. 

[123] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

"Is  there  anything  wrong,  Natalie?"  I 
asked,  gently.  "Speak  frankly  to  me — per 
haps  I  can  smooth  it  out." 

"Oh,  thank  you!"  she  exclaimed.  It's  really 
delightful  to  see  a  person  who  can  be  warm 
hearted,  yet  stop  short  of  indiscreet  and  dan 
gerous  sentimentality.  "But,"  she  .went  on, 
"how  can  I  tell  you?" 

"Is  it  Walter?"  I  asked,  with  a  smile  that 
invited  confidence  and  guaranteed  sympathy. 

She  was  silent. 

"Has  he  been  disagreeable  to  you?" 

"Oh,  no! — he's  kindness  itself.  But — I 
don't  know — I  simply  can't  make  up  my  mind 
to  marry." 

She  didn't  add  "him,"  but  she  let  me  see 
that  she  meant  it.  I  saw  the  struggle  that  had 
been  going  on  in  her  mind.  She  did  not  like 
him,  to  put  it  mildly.  She  longed  to  give  him 
up.  Every  time  she  thought  of  him  she  felt 
[124] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

that  she  must.  Every  time  she  thought  of 
me  and  my  fortune,  and  the  position  I 
would  give  my  son's  wife,  she  felt  that  she 
couldn't. 

"Have  you  talked  with  your  mother  about 
this?"  I  knew  what  a  clear-headed,  far- 
sighted  woman  Matt  Bradish's  wife  was — 
she's  married  off  three  children,  all  splendidly, 
not  to  speak  of  her  catching  Matt. 

"If  she  doesn't  stop  nagging  me  she'll  drive 
me  to  marry — somebody  else,"  said  Natalie, 
her  voice  trembling  with  anger.  "I'll  kick  the 
traces,  sure  as  fate." 

"But  I'm  sure  you  don't  care  for  this  some 
body  else,"  I  said,  positively.  I  knew  the  chap 
— a  painter.  I  can't  conceive  why  people  of 
our  sort  permit  youths  of  that  kind  to  roam 
among  their  marriageable  daughters.  Even  a 
sensible,  well-trained  girl,  with  all  youth's  dis 
dain  of  poverty  and  adoration  of  wealth,  has 
[  125  ] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

her  foolish  moments  like  the  rest  of  us.     "I'm 
sure  you  don't,"  I  repeated. 

"But  at  least  I  don't— don't— dislike  him." 
I  was  thoroughly  alarmed.  I  saw  that  she 
was  actually  trying  to  goad  me  into  anger 
against  her;  that  she  was  riding  for  a  fall; 
wished  to  force  herself  into  a  position  where 
marriage  with  Walter  would  be  made  impos 
sible.  The  poor  child  hadn't  the  heart  to  re 
fuse  the  prize  which  she  lacked  the  stomach  to 
take;  she  wished  to  make  me  snatch  it  from 
her.  But  the  Bradish  connection  is  far  too 
important  to  my  plans.  I  haven't  had  my 
hand  on  my  temper-rein  for  forty  years  with 
out  being  able  to  control  my  feelings — when 
I  wish.  Besides,  it  was  Walter  that  she  prac 
tically  said  she  disliked ;  and  I  can  see  how  she 
might — I  certainly  shouldn't  love  him  if  it 
were  not  my  duty  to  do  so. 

"You've  got  your  choice,  my  child,"  said  I, 
[126] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

"of  being  married  for  your  money  or  of  mar 
rying  into  as  enviable  a  position  as  there  is  in 
New  York.  I  know  you're  too  sensible  to  let 
trifles  obscure  your  judgment." 

"I  simply  wont  be  driven!"  she  retorted. 
"Why  should  I  bother?  I've  got  a  little  some 
thing  in  my  own  right." 

"Just  enough  to  make  you  realise  the  possi 
bilities  of  wealth,"  I  replied — "just  enough  to 
spur  your  ambition."  I  began  to  watch  her 
face  keenly.  "And  you  sha'n't  have  to  wait 
for  your  triumph,"  I  said,  and  I  made  an  im 
pressive  pause  before  I  slowly  added:  "I'm 
going  to  settle  an  annual  income  of  a  quarter 
of  a  million  on  you  for  life." 

I  saw  her  face  soften.  The  colour  came  and 
went  in  her  delicate  skin. 

"I  have  tested  you,  Natalie,"  I  went  on. 
"I  know  you  are  the  woman  I  want  as  my 
daughter.  It  will  make  me  happy  to  see  you 
[127] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

outshining  them  all,  as  you  will.  And  I'll 
make  you  absolutely  independent  of  Walter — 
of  me,  even." 

She  was  looking  at  me  with  glistening  eyes. 
I  saw  that  I  had  thrilled  her  through  and 
through.  Profoundly  to  move  a  human  being, 
one  must  touch  his  or  her  deepest  passion — 
his  or  her  particular  form  of  vanity. 

"Won't  you,  Natalie?"  I  pleaded,  "won't 
you  make  me  happy?  Won't  you  let  me  give 
you  what  your  beauty  and  refinement  de 
mand?" 

She  looked  at  me  sweetly — a  look  of  sur 
render. 

I  knew  I  had  won.  Then  her  eyes  were 
twinkling,  and  instantly  I  grasped  the  reason. 
We  both  burst  out  laughing.  It  certainly  was 
amusing — a  father  wooing  and  winning  for 
his  son  where  all  his  son's  efforts  had  made  his 
cause  only  more  hopeless.  And  throughout, 
[128] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

what  a  quaint  reversal  of  old-established,  gen 
erally  accepted  ideas  of  love  and  marriage! 
But — "Other  times,  other  customs!" 

I  dropped  Natalie  at  Mrs.  Kirkby's  and 
went  back  to  my  study.  I  rang  the  bell  and 
sent  the  answering  servant  for  Walter.  Pres 
ently  I  looked  up  from  my  work — he  was 
standing  before  me,  shifting  his  eyes  from 
point  to  point,  his  body  from  leg  to  leg. 

"You  will  marry  on  the  sixteenth  of  April, 
at  noon,"  said  I.  "Get  yourself  ready." 

And  I  dismissed  him  with  a  wave  of  my 
hand. 

It  would  be  sheer  madness  for  me  to  keep 
my  apparent  promise,  made,  in  the  heat  of  my 
earnestness,  merely  to  save  Natalie  from  her 
own  folly,  and  therefore  not  really  binding. 
To  give  her  a  quarter  of  a  million  a  year  abso 
lutely  and  for  life  wrould  be  to  invite  disaster 
— no,  to  compel  it.  She'd  be  in  the  divorce 
[129] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

courts  ridding  herself  of  Walter  within  two 
years. 

She  shall  have  the  substance  of  my  promise 
—I  shall  do  everything  for  her.  But  she  must 
not  have  the  mere  letter,  which  would  injure 
her,  would  tempt  her  to  wreck  her  life  and  my 
plans  and  the  future  of  her  children.  It  was 
wise  to  promise;  it  would  be  wrong  to  fulfil. 
No,  I  must  retain  full  control,  must  keep  my 
steadying  hand  firmly  upon  her.  And,  after 
all,  what  did  I  pledge? 

I  was  careful  to  phrase  it  delicately,  for  I'm 
always  extremely  particular  in  my  choice  and 
use  of  words  at  crucial  moments.  I  was  care 
ful  to  say,  "an  annual  income  of  a  quarter  of 
a  million."  All  turns  upon  the  wTord  "an"- 
if  it  were  "the,"  my  phrase  would  mean  some 
thing  entirely  different. 

I  shall  settle  two  hundred  and  fifty  thou 
sand  on  her  on  the  day  they  marry — after  the 
[130] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

ceremony.  I  shall  protest  that  a  quarter  of  a 
million  in  all  was  what  I  meant — and  I  cer 
tainly  did,  though  I  don't  here  deny  that  I 
may  have  meant  for  her  to  think  I  meant  a 
quarter  of  a  million  a  year.  She  will  be — not 
in  what  you  would  call  a  pleasant  state  of 
mind.  But  what  can  she  do?  When  she  shall 
have  calmed  down,  she'll  probably  give  me  the 
benefit  of  the  doubt,  tell  herself  she  misunder 
stood  me,  rail  at  herself  for  her  folly,  and  then 
— behave  herself. 

True,  she's  shrewd,  and  her  parents,  too. 
They'll  try  legally  to  commit  me  before  the 
wedding.  But  surely  I  can  circumvent  them. 

There's  "a  way  out."    There  always  is! 


[131] 


IV 

It  was  necessary  for  me  to  find,  calculating 
liberally,  about  eight  million  dollars — the  four 
millions  definitely  promised  to  my  university, 
a  quarter  of  a  million  to  redeem  my  promise 
to  Natalie,  a  million  properly  to  set  Walter 
and  her  going  in  an  independent  establish 
ment,  two  millions  to  provide  them  with  the 
income  to  maintain  it,  and  about  half  a  mill 
ion  for  my  own  and  my  family's  regular 
annual  expenses.  Further,  an  investment  of 
twelve  millions  that  had  been  sending  its  seven 
per  cent,  securely  and  regularly  for  the  past 
nine  years  was  about  to  fall  in  through  the 
payment  of  the  debt  it  represented — I  could 
write  a  volume  on  the  harassments  and  exas 
perations  of  hunting  investments.  Finally,  I 
was  hoping  that  Aurora  would  marry  Horton 
[132] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

Kirkby,  which  might  mean  a  million,  perhaps 
several  millions,  more,  if  he  should  demand  a 
dowry. 

The  situation  commanded  me  to  plan  and 
carry  through  some  new  enterprise  which 
would  afford  rne  a  safe  investment  for  my  re 
leased  twelve  millions  and  in  addition  would 
net  me  enough  to  cover  well  the  other  demands 
upon  me.  Years  ago — as  soon  as  I  had  my 
first  million  put  by — I  resolved  that  I  would 
never  for  any  purpose  whatsoever  subtract  a 
penny  either  from  the  principal  or  from  the 
income  of  my  fortune.  Gifts  of  all  kinds,  ex 
penses  of  all  kinds,  outgo  of  every  description, 
must  come  from  new  sources  of  revenue;  my 
fortune  and  its  income  and  the  surplus  over 
the  previous  year's  outgo  must  be  treated  as 
a  sacred  fund  of  which  I  was  merely  the  trus 
tee.  That  rule  has  put  me  often  in  straits,  has 
forced  me  to  many  money-making  measures 
[133] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

that  in  the  narrow  view  would  be  called  relent 
less.  But  to  it  the  world  owes  my  highest 
achievements .  as  a  financier  and  industrial 
leader,  and  to  it  I  owe  the  bulk  of  my  fortune. 

The  brain  earns  in  vain,  however  hugely,  if 
the  hands  do  not  hoard;  and,  thanks  to  my 
rule,  my  hands  have  been  like  those  valves 
which  open  only  to  pressure  from  without  and 
seal  the  more  tightly  the  greater  the  pressure 
from  within. 

I  could  not  break  my  rule.  Yet  I  must 
properly  marry  my  children  and  must  keep 
my  promise  to  my  university ;  and  to  have  left 
twelve  millions  of  capital  idle  would  have  been 
to  show  myself  unworthy  of  the  responsibili 
ties  of  great  wealth.  I  was  thus  literally 
driven  to  one  of  those  large  public  services 
which  are  so  venomously  criticised  by  the  small 
and  the  envious.  Every  action  of  no  matter 
what  kind  produces  both  good  and  bad  conse- 
[134] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

quences.  To  wait  until  one  could  act  without 
any  unfortunate  results  to  anybody  would  be 
to  sit  motionless,  even  to  refrain  from  eating. 
The  most  that  conscience  demands  is  that  one 
shall  do  only  those  things  which  in  his  best 
judgment  will  show  a  balance  on  the  side  of 
good. 

I  had  long  had  my  eye  on  certain  mines  and 
appendant  manufactories  situated  at  several 
points  on  two  of  my  three  lines  of  railway. 
They  were  doing  well  enough  in  a  small  way; 
but  I  knew  that,  combined  under  the  direction 
of  such  a  brain  as  mine,  they  would  become 
immensely  more  profitable.  I  now  saw  no  al 
ternative  to  taking  them  and  making  them  as 
valuable  and  as  useful  as  they  were  clearly  in 
tended  to  be.  In  preparation  for  the  coup  I 
withdrew  from  the  directory  of  my  third 
railway,  substituting  one  of  my  unrecognised 
agents,  himself  a  millionaire  in  a  small  way; 
[135] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

and  I  put  my  stock  in  the  names  of  others  of 
my  agents  and  did  not  deny  the  report  that 
I  had  ceased  to  have  any  financial  interest  in 
the  road.  Thus  I  was  in  a  position  to  alter  its 
freight  rates  without  the  change  being  traced 
to  me  by  those  prying  meddlers  who  are  so 
active  in  their  interference  in  other  people's 
business  nowadays.  When  it  was  universally 
believed  that  I  no  longer  had  any  connection 
with  my  third  road,  and  that  it  had  passed  to 
a  control  hostile  to  me,  I  ordered  it  to  give 
large  secret  rebates  upon  all  freight  of  the 
kind  I  wished  to  affect. 

The  result  was  that  the  owners  of  those 
mines  and  factories,  being  compelled  to  ship 
by  my  two  other  railways,  which  stiffly  main 
tained  rates,  were  no  longer  able  to  compete. 
Their  competitors,  shipping  by  my  third  line, 
easily  undersold  them  with  the  assistance  of 
the  secret  rebate.  They  came  in  a  stew  and 
[136] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

sweat  to  my  two  presidents  and  said  that  secret 
rebates  by  the  third  line  were  the  cause  of  their 
impending  ruin.  My  two  presidents  agreed 
with  them  and  opened  a  fierce  war  of  words 
upon  my  third  president — him  whom  they  and 
every  one  else  thought  hostile  to  me.  He  re 
torted  with  a  sweeping  denial  of  their  charges. 
"It  is  nothing  new  in  a  world  of  self -excuse," 
said  he,  "for  incompetent  business  men  to 
attribute  their  misfortunes  to  the  wickedness 
of  others  instead  of  to  the  real  source — their 
own  incapacity  and  incompetence."  And  so 
the  sham  battle  raged  by  mail  and  newspaper 
interview.  But — the  mine  and  factory  owners 
I  was  gunning  for  got  nothing  tangible  out 
of  it.  Their  competitors  continued  to  under 
sell  them;  their  business  rapidly  languished. 

When  I  saw  that  they  were  in  a  sufficiently 
humble  frame  of  mind  I  came  to  their  relief. 
I  sent  word  to  them  that,  as  I  had  a  warm 
[137] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

persona]  feeling  for  the  towns  dependent 
upon  the  prosperity  of  their  works,  I  would 
take  a  hand  in  their  languishing  businesses  if 
they  wished  and  would  do  my  utmost  to  main 
tain  the  apparently  hopeless  battle. 

My  offer  was  received  with  enthusiastic 
gratitude — as  it  should  have  been;  for,  while 
it  is  true  that  I  had  precipitated  the  crisis 
which  their  antiquated  methods  of  doing  busi 
ness  would  have  inevitably  brought  sooner  or 
later,  is  it  not  also  true  that  I  have  the  right  to 
do  what  I  wish  with  my  own?  And  are  not 
those  two  railways,  and  the  third,  as  well,  my 
own?  But  for  the  present  rampant  spirit  of 
contemptuous  disregard  for  the  rights  of  pri 
vate  property  and  the  impudent  intrusions 
into  private  business  it  would  not  have  been 
necessary  for  me  to  disguise  myself  and  act 
like  a  housebreaker  in  order  to  exercise  my 
plain  rights — yes,  and  do  my  plain  duty;  for 
[138] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

can  there  be  any  question  in  any  judicial  mind 
that  it  is  the  duty  of  men  of  the  commercial 
and  financial  genius  which  I  possess  to  use  it 
to  bring  the  resources  of  the  country  to  their 
highest  efficiency? 

After  some  negotiations  I  got  control  of 
the  properties  that  I  needed  and  that  needed 
me.  I  agreed  to  pay  altogether  fifteen  mill 
ions  for  a  controlling  share  in  them — about 
half  what  it  would  have  cost  me  before  I 
brought  my  rebate  artillery  to  bear,  but  about 
twice  what  control  would  have  cost  had  I  bat 
tered  away  for  six  months  longer.  I  might 
have  accomplished  my  purpose  much  more 
cheaply;  but  I  am  not  a  hard  man,  and  I  do 
not  flatter  myself  when  I  say  that  conscience 
is  the  dominant  factor  in  all  my  operations. 
I  felt  that  in  the  circumstances  the  owners 
were  entitled  to  consideration  and  that  to 
make  my  victory  complete  would  be  an  abuse 
[139] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

of  power.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  add  that 
my  generosity  had  its  prudent  side,  as  has  all 
rational  generosity.  To  have  assailed  the 
properties  too  long  in  order  to  get  them 
cheap  would  have  permanently  impaired  their 
value;  to  have  wiped  out  the  owners  utter 
ly  would  have  caused  a  profound,  possibly 
dangerous,  public  resentment  against  my 
class,  too  many  members  of  which  had  been 
guilty  of  the  grave  blunder  of  using  their 
power  without  regard  to  public  opinion.  But 
while  prudence  was  a  factor  in  my  general 
settlement,  the  main  factor  was,  as  I  have  said, 
conscience.  Not  the  narrow  conscientiousness 
of  ordinary  men,  which  is  three  parts  igno 
rance,  two  parts  cowardice,  and  five  parts 
envy — for  is  it  not  usually  roused  only  when 
the  acts  of  others  are  to  be  judged? 

When  my  offer  was  accepted  I  organised  a 
combination  to  take  over  the  properties,  and 
[140] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

I  paid  for  them  with  its  guaranteed  bonds  and 
preferred  stock.  Then  I  countermanded  the 
order  for  a  heavy  secret  rebate  against  their 
products  and,  instead,  issued  an  order  for  a 
small  secret  rebate  in  their  favour — letting  the 
public  think  I  had  by  some  secret  audacious 
move  regained  control  of  my  third  railroad. 
The  combination's  business  boomed,  its  stock 
went  up,  and  all  that  it  was  necessary  for  me 
to  sell  was  eagerly  bought.  What  with  the 
bonds  and  the  stocks  I  sold,  I  had  gained  con 
trol  without  its  having  cost  me  a  penny.  It  is 
not  vanity,  is  it,  when  I  call  that  genius? 

But  control  is  not  possession,  and  these 
properties  are  worth  possessing.  I  must  pos 
sess  them.  It  is  not  just  that  so  large  a  part 
of  the  profits  of  my  labour — of  my  act  of 
creation — should  go  to  others. 

I  have  anticipated  somewhat.  The  opera 
tion  took  a  considerable  time,  but  not  long  in 
[141] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

view  of  the  great  results.  When  one  has  my 
vast  resources  and  my  peculiar  talents,  men 
and  events  move,  obstacles  are  blown  up,  roads 
are  thrust  swift  and  straight  through  the 
thickest  tangles,  and  the  objective  is  reached 
before  feeble  folk  have  got  beyond  the  stage 
of  debate  and  diplomacy.  Still,  nearly  a  year 
elapsed  between  the  start  and  the  finish,  and 
many  things  happened  which  were  the  reverse 
of  satisfactory — most  of  them,  as  usual,  in  my 
domestic  affairs. 

I  had  got  the  enterprise  only  fairly  under 
way  when  the  invitations  for  Walter's  wed 
ding  were  issued.  Natalie's  father  had  seen 
me  several  times  and  had  shown  his  determina 
tion  to  intervene  in  the  matter  of  her  dowry 
by  bringing  up  the  subject  at  our  business 
conferences  whenever  he  could  force  the  small 
est  opening.  Like  all  my  associates,  from 
capitalist  to  clerk,  he  is  in  awe  of  me.  I  see 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

to  it  that  in  the  velvet  glove  there  shall  always 
be  holes  through  which  the  iron  hand  can  be 
plainly  seen.  That  often  saves  me  the  exer 
tion  of  using  it.  An  iron  hand,  once  it  has  an 
established  reputation,  is  mightier  when  mere 
ly  seen  than  when  felt.  He  would  always 
begin  by  some  vague,  halting  reference  to  my 
promised  generosity. 

"A  royal  gift,  Galloway!"  he  would  say, 
enthusiastically.  "You  certainly  are  a  king, 
much  more  powerful  than  those  European  fig 
ureheads." 

But  he  never  had  the  courage  to  speak  the 
exact  sum,  the  "quarter  of  a  million  dollars  a 
year,"  that  I  saw  in  his  hungry,  glistening, 
hopeful,  yet  doubtful  eyes.  And  I  would  not 
take  the  hint  to  discuss  the  gift  further,  but 
would  put  him  off  by  showing  how  completely 
I  was  absorbed  in  the  forming  combination. 
Probably  at  the  time  he  was  letting  his  greed 
[143] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

blind  him  into  believing  I  would  make  as  big 
a  fool  of  myself  as  I  had  rashly  promised  and 
so  was  fearful  of  irritating  me  in  any  way. 
Two  days  before  the  wedding  invitations  went 
out  he  forced  himself  on  me  for  lunch.  I  saw 
determination  written  in  his  face — determina 
tion  to  compel  me  to  something  definite  about 
that  "quarter  of  a  million  a  year"  for  his 
daughter.  So,  at  the  first  pause  in  the  con 
versation,  I  played  my  card. 

"Matt,"  said  I,  "I  really  must  arrange  the 
formalities  for  that  settlement  on  our  daugh 
ter.  I'll  have  my  lawyer — will  the  latter  part 
of  the  week  do?  He's  up  to  his  eyes  in  the 
combination  just  now." 

Bradish  looked  enormously  relieved.  He 
could  hardly  keep  from  laughing  outright 
with  delight — the  miserable  old  seller  of  his 
own  children.  "Oh,  I  wasn't  disturbing  my 
self,"  he  replied;  "your  word's  good  enough, 
[144] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

though,  of  course,  you'd — we'd — want  the 
thing  in  legal  shape — before  the  marriage." 

"Of  course,"  said  I,  waving  the  matter  aside 
as  settled,  and  beginning  again  on  the  affairs 
of  the  combination.  I  had  let  him  into  it  on 
attractive  terms  and  had  put  him  on  my  board 
of  directors.  He  revelled  in  these  favours  as 
the  mere  foretaste  of  his  gains  from  the  pow 
erful  commercial  alliance  he  was  making 
through  his  daughter. 

Out  went  the  invitations — and  the  first  dan 
ger  point  was  rounded. 

On  the  following  Sunday  night  I  left  sud 
denly  in  my  private  car  for  an  inspection  of 
the  new  properties.  Every  day  of  nearly  two 
weeks  was  full  to  its  last  minute.  When  I  re 
turned  to  New  York  five  days  before  the  wed 
ding,  I  was  utterly  worn  out.  I  went  to  bed 
and  sent  for  my  doctor — Hanbury. 

He  is  one  of  those  highly  successful  New 
[145] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

York  physicians  who  are  famed  among  the 
laity  for  their  skill  in  medicine,  and  in  the  pro 
fession  for  their  skill  at  hocus-pocus.  He  is 
a  specialist  in  what  I  may  call  the  diseases 
of  the  idle  rich — boredom,  exaggeration  of  a 
slight  discomfort  into  a  frightful  torture,  crav 
ing  for  fussy  personal  attentions,  abnormal 
fear  of  death,  etc.  He  is  a  professional  "fun 
ny  man,"  a  discreet  but  depraved  gossip,  and 
a  tireless  listener — and  is  handsome  and  well- 
mannered.  He  has  a  soft,  firm  touch — on 
pulse  and  on  purse.  The  women  adore  him — 
when  they  want  to  rest,  they  complain  of  ner 
vousness  and  send  for  him  to  prescribe  for 
them.  One  of  his  most  successful  and  lucra 
tive  lines  of  treatment  is  helping  wives  to 
loosen  the  purse-strings  of  husbands  by  agi 
tating  their  sympathies  and  fears.  He  never 
irritates  or  frightens  his  clients  with  unpleas 
ant  truths.  He  doesn't  tell  the  men  to  stop 
[146] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

eating  and  drinking  and  the  women  to  stop 
gadding.  He  gives  them  digestion-tablets 
and  nerve-tonics  and  sends  them  on  agreeable 
excursions  to  Europe.  Of  all  the  swarm  of 
parasites  that  live  upon  rich  New  Yorkers 
none  keeps  up  a  more  dignified  front  than 
does  Hanbury.  I've  found  him  useful  in  so 
cial  matters,  and,  as  I've  paid  him  liberally, 
he  is  greatly  in  my  debt. 

"Hanbury,"  I  said,  from  my  bed,  "I'm  a 
very  sick  man." 

"Nonsense — only  tired,"  replied  he.  "A 
good  sleep,  a  few  days'  rest ' 

I  looked  at  him  steadily.  "I  tell  you  I'm 
desperately  ill,  and  here's  my  son's  wedding 
only  five  days  away!" 

"You'll  be  all  right  by  that  time.  I'll  guar 
antee  to  fix  you  up,  good  as  new." 

I  continued  to  look  at  him  steadily.  "No, 
I  sha'n't — it's  impossible.  And  I  sha'n't  be 
[147] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

able  to  transact  any  business  whatever.  I 
mustn't  be  allowed  to  see  even  the  members  of 
my  own  family.  Do  you  understand?" 

He  glanced  curiously  at  me,  then  reflected, 
twisting  the  end  of  his  Van  Dyck  beard.  He 
looked  at  my  tongue,  listened  to  my  heart,  felt 
my  pulse,  and  took  my  temperature.  "I'm 
afraid  you're  right,"  he  said,  gravely;  "I  see 
you're  worse  off  than  I  thought.  We  must 
have  a  trained  nurse." 

"But  I  must  have  you,  too,"  said  I.  "You 
must  move  into  the  house,  and  I  don't  want 
anybody  but  you  to  attend  me." 

"Very  well.  You  know  I'm  at  your  service. 
I'll — superintend  the  nurse." 

"Thank  you,  Hanbury,"  said  I.  "You  un 
derstand  me  perfectly.  I  can  trust  you.  And 
— something  might  happen  to  me — I'll  write 
you  a  check  for  ten  thousand  at  once — a  little 
personal  matter  quite  apart  from  your  bill." 
[148] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

H anbury  reddened.  I  think  he  thought  he 
was  hesitating.  But  when  he  spoke  it  was  to 
say:  "Thank  you — if  you  wish — but  I'm  sure 
I'll  pull  you  through." 

"I  shall  be  able  to  see  no  one''  I  went  on. 
"But  I've  set  my  heart  on  my  son's  marrying 
—the  wedding  must  not  be  put  off.    I'm  sure 
it  would  kill  me  if  there  were  to  be  a  delay." 

"I  understand."  His  eyes  were  smiling; 
the  rest  of  his  face  was  grave. 

"And  not  a  word  of  the  serious  nature  of 
my  illness  must  get  into  the  papers.  You  will 
deny  any  rumour  of  that  kind,  should  there  be 
occasion.  My  stocks  must  not  be  affected — 
and  they  would  be,  and  the  whole  list— 

"And  the  prosperity  of  the  country,"  said 
Hanbury. 

This  illness  of  mine,  while  primarily  for 
smoothly  carrying  through  Walter's  marriage, 
was  really  inspired  by  an  actual  physical  need. 
[149] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

I  had  long  felt  that  the  machine  needed  rest. 
The  necessity  of  preventing  Natalie  from 
making  a  fool  of  herself  gave  me  the  oppor 
tunity  to  combine  rest  with  accomplishment. 
Before  shutting  myself  in  I  had  put  my 
affairs  into  such  shape  that  my  lieutenants 
and  secretaries  could  look  after  them.  I  dozed 
and  slept  and  listened  to  the  nurse  or  H anbury 
reading,  or  talked  with  Hanbury.  The  nurse 
had  little  to  do — and  I  suspect  could  do  little. 
What  Hanbury  did  not  do  was  done  by  my 
stupid  old  Pigott,  half  crazed  with  fear  lest 
I  should  die  and  he  should  find  that  he  was 
right  in  suspecting  he  had  not  been  hand 
somely  remembered  in  my  will.  Hanbury 's 
manner  was  so  perfect  that,  had  I  not  felt 
robustly  well  on  long  sleep,  short  diet,  and  no 
annoyances,  I  might  have  been  convinced  and 
badly  frightened.  My  family  —  Hanbury 
managed  to  keep  them  from  thinking  it  neces- 
[150] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

sary  to  try  to  impress  me  with  their  affection 
for  me  by  pretending  wild  alarm.  He  had 
most  difficulty  with  poor  little  Helen — not  so 
very  little  any  more,  though  I  think  of  her  as 
a  baby  still.  It's  astonishing  how  unspoiled 
she  is — another  proof  of  her  unusuality. 

On  the  third  day  Hanbury  said:  "Your 
wife  tells  me  she  must  see  you,  and  that,  if 
she  doesn't,  the  wedding  will  surely  be  post 
poned." 

"It's  impossible  to  admit  her — when  I'm 
just  entering  the  crisis,"  replied  I.  "Tell  her 
— you  know  how  to  do  it — that,  if  Bradish  acts 
up,  she  shall  as  a  last  resort  go  to  Burridge, 
who  will  let  him  see  my  will.  And  can't  you 
call — don't  you  think  you  had  better  call — 
some  one — say  Doctor  Lowndes — in  consulta 
tion?" 

He  reflected  for  several  minutes.  "I'll  call 
Lowndes,"  he  said.  "You  couldn't  possibly 
[151] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

have  picked  out  a  better  man."  And  he  looked 
at  me  with  the  admiration  I  deserved. 

"Let  Bradish  know  you've  done  it,"  I  added. 

"Certainly,"  he  replied,  in  a  tone  which  as 
sured  me  he  knew  what  to  do  at  the  right  time. 

Lowndes  came — and  went.  A  quarter  of 
an  hour  before  he  came  Hanbury  gave  me  a 
dose  of  some  strong-smelling,  yellow-black 
medicine.  The  blood  bounded  through  my 
arteries  and  throbbed  with  fierce  violence  in 
my  veins;  I  sank  into  a  sort  of  stupor.  I 
dimly  realised  that  another  man  was  in  the 
room  with  Hanbury  and  was  making  a  hasty 
examination  of  me.  It  must  have  been  an 
amusing  farce.  Lowndes  indorsed  Hanbury, 
and — yesterday  I  paid  Lowndes's  bill  for 
twelve  hundred  dollars. 

I  fell  asleep  while  he  was  still  solemn 
ly  studying  Hanbury's  temperature  chart. 
When  I  awoke  the  latter  was  reading  by  the 
[152] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

shaded  electric  light  on  the  night-stand.  I 
felt  somewhat  dazed  and  tired,  but  otherwise 
extremely  comfortable. 

"What  news?"  I  asked. 

"Your  wife  says  the  wedding  is  to  go  on — a 
quiet  ceremony  at  Mr.  Bradish's  house.  I  fear 
I  gave  him  the  impression  that,  while  there 
was  no  immediate  danger,  you  would " 

"Hardly  pull  through?" 

"I  fear  so." 

That  amused  me.  "Did  he  see  my  will?"  I 
asked. 

"I  believe  he  did.  I  think  that  was  what 
decided  him." 

And  well  it  might,  for  not  only  had  he  read 
that  I  had  willed  three-fourths  of  my  entire 
estate  to  my  son  Walter,  but  also  he  had  read 
a  schedule  of  my  chief  holdings  which  I  had 
folded  in  with  the  will  in  anticipation  of  this 
very  contingency.  It  must  have  amazed  him 
[153] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

— it  must  have  stirred  every  atom  in  his  ava 
ricious  old  body — to  see  how  much  richer  I  am 
than  is  generally  supposed.  No,  it  would  have 
been  impossible  for  him  to  take  any  chances 
on  losing  my  principal  heir  for  his  daughter 
after  that  will  and  that  schedule  had  burned 
themselves  into  his  brain. 

I've  not  the  slightest  doubt  that  he  knew 
his  daughter  would  never  get  the  dowry  she 
was  dreaming  of,  for  he  is  a  sensible,  practical 
man.  If  I  did  not  know  how  glibly  young 
people  talk  and  think  of  huge  sums  of  money 
nowadays  I'd  not  believe  Natalie  herself  silly 
enough  ever  seriously  to  imagine  me  giving 
her  outright  the  enormous  sum  necessary  to 
produce  a  quarter  of  a  million  a  year. 

Hanbury  urged  that  Walter  and  his  bride 
go  down  to  the  country  near  town,  assuring 
them  he  could  give  them  several  hours'  warn 
ing  of  a  turn  for  the  worse.  The  change  in 
[  154  ] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

the  wedding  plans  had  started  a  report  that  I 
was  dangerously  ill.  As  the  best  possible  de 
nial  of  this  stock-depressing  rumour  they 
yielded  to  H anbury's  representations. 

I  ordered  Hanbury  to  give  it  out  that  I  was 
much  better,  as  soon  as  I  heard  that  the  mar 
riage  ceremony  had  been  performed,  and  I 
began  to  mend  so  rapidly  that  he,  in  alarm  for 
his  reputation,  begged  me  to  restrain  myself. 
"I  want  people  to  say  I  worked  a  cure,"  he 
said,  "not  to  say  I  worked  a  miracle — and  then 
wink."  In  two  weeks  I  was  far  enough  ad 
vanced  for  Walter  and  Natalie  to  sail  on  the 
trip  which  my  illness  had  delayed. 

I  was  now  free  to  give  my  entire  attention 
to  my  down-town  affairs.  My  long  rest  had 
made  me  young  again  and  had  given  me  fresh 
points  of  view  upon  nearly  every  department 
of  my  activity.  Also  I  found  that  my  success 
with  my  big  combination  and  my  stupendous 
[155] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

public  gift  had  enormously  increased  my  repu 
tation.  Half  one's  power  comes  from  within 
himself,  the  other  half  from  the  belief  of  other 
people  in  him.  My  star  was  approaching  the 
zenith,  and  I  saw  it.  I  always  work  inces 
santly,  regardless  of  the  position  of  my  star — 
no  man  who  accomplishes  great  things  ever 
takes  his  mind  off  his  work. 

Not  that  I  am  one  of  those  who  disbelieve 
in  luck.  Luck  is  the  tide.  When  it  is  with 
me,  I  reach  port — if  I  row  hard  and  steer 
straight.  When  it  is  against  me,  I  must  still 
row  hard  and  steer  straight  to  keep  off  the 
rocks  and  be  ready  for  the  turn. 

At  my  suggestion,  my  down-town  confiden 
tial  man  intimated  to  a  few  of  the  principal 
men  in  the  towns  dependent  on  my  mines  and 
factories  that  it  would  be  gracious  and  fitting 
to  show  in  some  public  way  their  appreciation 
pf  what  I  had  done.  Usually  these  demon- 
[156] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

strations  are  extremely  perfunctory,  betray 
ing  on  the  surface  that  they  are  got  up  either 
by  the  man  honoured  or  out  of  a  reluctant 
sense  of  decency  and  a  lively  sense  of  the  right 
way  to  get  more  favours.  But  in  this  instance 
the  suggestion  met  with  a  spontaneous  and 
universal  response.  All  that  my  agents  had 
to  do  in  the  matter  was  to  organise  the  enthu 
siasm  and  relieve  the  entertainment  commit 
tee  of  the  heavier  expenses — such  as  railway 
transportation,  catering,  music,  and  carriages. 
The  people  did  the  rest. 

They  regarded  me  as  their  saviour — and  so 
I  was.  Could  I  not  have  destroyed  them  had 
I  willed  it?  Was  I  not  inaugurating  for  them 
a  prosperity  such  as  the  former  small-fry 
owners  of  those  properties  had  neither  the 
genius  nor  the  resources  to  create? 

The  trouble  with  those  who  criticise  the 
morality  of  the  actions  of  men  like  me  is  that 
[157] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

they  are  trying  to  study  astronomy  with  a 
microscope. 

Jack  Ridley  and  I  fell  into  an  argument 
along  these  lines  one  evening  after  dinner,  and 
the  only  answer  he  could  make  to  me  was, 
"Then  a  murderer,  on  the  same  principle, 
could  say:  'I'm  killing  this  man  so  that  his 
family,  to  whom  he's  really  of  no  use,  may  get 
his  life  insurance  and  live  comfortably  and 
happily.  I'm  not  doing  it  because  I  want 
what  he  has  in  his  pockets — though  I'll  take 
it  partially  to  repay  me  for  risking  my  neck.' ' 
I  couldn't  help  smiling — he  put  it  so  plausibly. 
I  should  have  reasoned  precisely  like  that 
twenty  years  ago.  But  my  mind  and  my  con 
science  have  grown  since  then.  I  no  longer 
look  out  upon  life  through  the  twisted  glass 
of  the  windows  of  the  House  of  Have-not;  I 
see  it  through  the  clear  French-plate  of  the 
House  of  Have. 

[158] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

When  the  programme  for  my  testimonial 
was  perfected,  a  joint  delegation  from  the 
city  governments,  the  chambers  of  commerce, 
and  the  ministers'  associations  of  the  five 
towns  waited  upon  me  to  invite  me  to  a  grand 
joint  reception  and  banquet  to  be  held  in  the 
largest  town.  They  invited  my  wife,  also,  but 
I  did  not  permit  her  to  accept.  In  the  first 
place,  she  had  done  nothing  to  entitle  her  to 
divide  the  honour  with  me;  and,  in  the  second 
place,  she  would  have  had  her  head  even  more 
utterly  turned  than  it  now  is.  On  the  ap 
pointed  day  I  went  up  in  my  private  car, 
taking  Burridge  and  Jack  Ridley  with  me.  I 
had  outlined  to  Ridley  what  I  wished  to  say, 
and  he  had  expanded  it  into  the  necessary 
three  speeches.  In  the  main  he  caught  the 
spirit  of  my  ideas  very  cleverly.  The  only 
editing  I  had  to  do  was  in  striking  out  a  lot 
of  self -deprecatory  rubbish  which  would  have 
[159] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

made  me  minimise  my  part  in  the  new  era  for 
the  towns.  A  man  is  a  fool  who  assists  his 
enemies  to  rob  him  of  what  is  justly  his.  How 
could  I  expect  any  one  to  have  a  proper  re 
spect  for  me  if  I  did  not  show  that  I  have  a 
proper  respect  for  myself? 

Where  this  so-called  modesty  is  genuine  it 
is  a  dangerous  weakness;  where  it  is  false,  it  is 
hypocritical  cowardice. 

As  the  train  carrying  my  car  drew  into  the 
station  I  stared  amazed,  much  to  the  delight 
of  the  reception  committee,  which  had  joined 
me  at  the  station  below.  Before  me  I  saw  ten 
or  twelve  thousand  people.  The  schoolgirls, 
each  dressed  in  white  and  carrying  flowers, 
occupied  the  front  space — there  must  have 
been  a  thousand  of  them. 

"Wonderful!    Wonderful!"  I  exclaimed. 

"There  hasn't  been  such  an  outpouring  of 
the  people,"  said  a  gentleman  who  stood  near 
[160] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

me,  "since  Mr.  Elaine  passed  through  here 
when  he  was  a  candidate  for  the  presidency." 

I  noted  that  several  of  the  committee  grew 
red  and  frowned  at  him.  Afterward  Ridley 
told  me  why — the  Elaine  demonstration  had 
led  them  to  expect  that  he  would  carry  the 
county  by  an  overwhelming  majority;  instead, 
he  had  lost  it  by  a  "landslide"  vote  against  him. 

When  the  train  stopped,  a  battery  of  artil 
lery  began  to  fire  a  salute  of  one  hundred 
guns.  Several  bands  struck  up,  the  children 
sang  "The  Star-Spangled  Banner,"  and  the 
crowd  burst  into  frenzies  of  cheering.  I  was 
overcome  with  emotion  and  the  tears  streamed 
down  my  cheeks.  At  that  the  cheering  was 
more  tremendous  and  I  saw  many  of  the 
women  and  little  girls  crying. 

I  entered  the  carriage  drawn  by  six  horses, 
the  mayor  of  the  town  beside  me,  and  the 
march  to  the  Court  House  began.  I  had 
[161] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

given  my  workingmen  a  holiday  and  my  ex 
cursion  trains  had  poured  the  people  of  the 
four  other  towns  into  this  fifth  town,  about 
quadrupling  its  population  for  the  day.  The 
streets  were  therefore  thronged  from  the 
house-walls  to  the  edges  of  a  lane  just  wide 
enough  for  the  procession.  The  houses  were 
draped  with  bunting;  arches  of  evergreens 
and  bunting,  each  bearing  my  name  and  words 
of  welcome,  spanned  the  route  of  march  at 
frequent  intervals.  I  stood  all  the  way,  my 
hat  in  hand.  As  I  bowed,  the  cheers  answered 
me.  The  bells  in  all  the  towers  and  steeples 
rang,  cannon  boomed,  and  the  procession,  in 
five  divisions,  each  with  a  band  and  militia, 
wound  in  my  wake.  My  heart  swelled  with 
triumph  and  with  grateful  appreciation.  I 
fully  realised  myself  for  the  first  time  in  my 
life. 

As  I  have  said,  I  always  did  have  a  self- 
[162] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

respecting  opinion  of  myself,  even  when  an 
over-nice  and  inexperienced  conscience  was 
annoying  me  with  its  hair-splittings.  As  I 
have  grown  older,  and  have  seen  the  inferior 
ity  of  other  men  and  the  superiority  of  my 
own  mind  and  judgment,  naturally  my  early 
opinion  has  been  strengthened  and  deepened. 
But  on  that  day  I  realised  how  my  own  sight 
of  myself  had  been  obscured  by  a  too  close 
view.  My  domestic  exasperations,  the  neces 
sary  disagreeableness  and  pettiness  of  so  many 
of  the  details  of  my  great  projects,  the  triv 
iality  of  my  routine  of  business  and  its  harass- 
ments — all  these  had  combined  to  make  me 
belittle  my  own  stature  and  bulk.  On  that 
day  I  saw  myself  as  others  see  me.  I  felt  a 
great  uplifting,  a  supreme  disdain  for  those 
who  oppose  me  or  cavil  at  me,  a  high  and  firm 
resolve  to  devote  myself  thereafter  more  con 
fidently  and  more  boldly  to  my  plans. 
[163] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

But — the  more  splendid  the  crown,  the  more 
splitting  the  headache. 

At  the  banquet  in  the  evening  I  observed 
that  the  enthusiasm  of  the  daytime  was  not 
being  sustained.  I  was  amazed  and  irritated 
by  the  large  number  of  vacant  places  at  the 
tables,  when  my  agents  had  been  instructed 
judiciously  and  quietly  to  distribute  free  tick 
ets  should  there  not  be  a  sufficient  number 
of  persons  able  to  pay  the  five  dollars  a  plate 
we  were  charging  for  a  nine-dollar  dinner.  I 
was  puzzled  by  the  nervous  uneasiness  of  those 
who  sat  with  me  at  the  table  of  honour  and 
who  had  been  all  geniality  a  few  hours  before. 
The  speeches  seemed  to  me  halting  and  inade 
quate — my  own  speech,  well  calculated  to 
rouse  local  pride,  was  received  with  a  faint 
hand-clapping  which  soon  died  away.  After 
the  dinner  I,  Burridge,  and  Ridley  drove 
alone  to  the  station.  It  was  filled  with  weary 
[164] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

throngs  taking  the  returning  excursion  trains. 
They  did  not  cheer  me;  they  only  stared  curi 
ously. 

When  we  were  on  our  way  back  to  New 
York  I  wished  to  discuss  the  triumph  with  my 
two  companions,  but  Burridge  was  dumb  and 
Ridley  morose.  In  the  morning  I  called  for 
the  New  York  dailies;  they  were  haltingly 
produced.  Imagine  my  amazement  when  I 
saw,  in  many  kinds  of  type,  now  jubilant,  now 
regretful,  now  apologetic  headlines,  all  agree 
ing  that  my  reception  was  a  fiasco.  Only  my 
stanch  —  -  printed  the  truth,  and  it  laid  en 
tirely  too  much  stress  upon  the  "act  of  ma 
licious  and  mendacious  demagoguery."  That 
act  was:  Some  enemy  of  mine  had  discovered 
inside  facts  as  to  my  manipulation  of  freight 
rates  to  get  control  of  the  mines  and  factories, 
and,  late  in  the  afternoon,  in  the  interval  be 
tween  the  reception  and  the  banquet,  a  New 
[  165  ] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

York  newspaper  containing  what  purported 
to  be  a  full  account  of  my  machinations  had 
been  hawked  about  the  streets,  and  was  read 
by  everybody — except  me. 

I  do  not  here  deny  that  the  basic  facts  were 
practically  true  as  printed.  But  the  worst 
possible  colour  was  given  to  them,  and  the 
worst  possible  motives  of  rapacity  and  con 
scienceless  cruelty  were  ascribed  to  me.  In 
stead  of  showing  that  I  was  like  a  general  who 
sacrifices  a  comparative  few  in  order  that  he 
may  save  millions  and  advance  a  great  cause, 
the  wretched  rag  held  me  up  as  a  swindler  and 
robber — worse,  as  an  assassin! 

I  understood  all,  and  sympathised  with  my 
hosts,  the  people  of  those  five  towns,  in  their 
embarrassment.  As  their  local  newspapers, 
which  I  got  the  next  day,  assured  me,  they  did 
not  believe  the  slanderous  story.  But  I  can 
readily  see  how  nervous  it  must  have  made 
[166] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

them.  It  is  fortunate  for  them  that  they  had 
the  good  sense  to  discern  the  truth.  Had  I 
been  insulted,  I  should  have  taken  a  terrible 
revenge,  even  though  it  had  cost  me  several 
hundred  thousand  dollars. 

While  I  was  reading  those  New  York  pa 
pers,  Jack  Ridley  was  smoking  a  cigar  at  the 
opposite  side  of  the  breakfast-table.  When 
I  had  finished,  I  spoke.  "Did  you  see  that 
newspaper  yesterday?"  I  demanded,  my  rage 
hardly  able  to  wait  upon  his  answer  before 
bursting. 

Ridley  nodded. 

"And  Burridge?" 

"Yes— he  saw  it." 

"Why  didn't  you  tell  me?" 

"Bad  news  will  always  keep." 

I  shouted  for  Burridge,  and,  when  he  came, 
ordered  him  into  a  seat.  "At  every  step  in  my 
career  I've  been  harassed  and  hampered  by 
[167] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

petty  minds,"  I  said — "not  among  my  ene 
mies,  for  there  they  have  been  a  help,  but 
among  my  employees  and  servants  of  every 
kind.  How  often  have  I  told  both  of  you 
never  to  think  for  me?  I  don't  pay  you  to 
think — I  pay  you  to  do  what  I  think.  Had 
you  told  me  I  could  have  met  this  slander 
when  and  where  it  showed  itself  and  would 
have  choked  it  to  death.  As  it  is,  everybody 
except  you  two  believes  I  knew  and  was  silent. 
Fortunately  my  reputation  is  strong  enough 
to  compel  them  to  put  a  decent  interpretation 
on  my  silence.  But  no  thanks  to  you!  I  dis 
charge  you  both." 

Burridge  rose  and  went  to  the  other  part  of 
the  car — and  I  did  not  see  him  again.  Ridley 
fell  to  whimpering  and  crying,  and  for  old 
friendship's  sake,  and  because  the  poor  devil 
is  useful  in  his  way,  I  took  him  back  at  two- 
thirds  his  former  pay.  His  gratitude  was 
[168] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

really  touching — sometimes  I  think  he's  hon 
estly  fond  of  me,  though  no  doubt  the  wages 
and  what  he  has  free  enter  into  it.  He's  one 
of  those  fellows  who  actually  enjoy  licking  the 
hand  they  fear.  Burridge  did  not  try  to  get 
himself  reinstated.  Probably  he  thought  him 
self  indispensable  and  held  aloof  in  the  belief 
that  I  would  beg  him  to  come  back.  But  I 
was  on  the  whole  glad  to  get  rid  of  him.  He 
was  too  much  of  an  alleged  gentleman  for  the 
work  he  had  to  do.  There's  room  for  only  one 
gentleman  in  my  establishment. 

Into  his  place  I  put  a  young  chap  named 
Cress  who  had  been  near  me  at  the  office  for 
several  years  and  had  shown  loyalty,  energy, 
and  discretion.  He  was  not  at  his  new  work 
a  week  before  my  wife  came  to  me  in  a  hot 
temper  and  demanded  that  he  be  dismissed. 
"He  has  insulted  me!"  she  said,  her  head  rear 
ing  and  her  nose  in  the  air. 
[169] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

"How?"  I  asked;  "I  can't  discharge  a  faith 
ful  servant  on  a  mere  caprice." 

"He  has  dared  to  question  my  accounts," 
she  replied,  in  her  grandest  manner. 

This  was  interesting!  "But  that's  his  busi 
ness,"  said  I;  "that's  what  I  pay  him  for." 

"To  insult  your  wife?" 

"To  guard  my  money." 

"Mr.  Burridge  never  found  it  necessary  to 
insult  me  in  guarding  your  money.  He  vent 
ured  to  assume  that  as  your  wife  I  was  to  be 
respected,  and " 

"Burridge  had  no  right  to  assume  any  such 
thing,"  I  said.  "He  was  nothing  but  my  ma 
chine — my  cash-register.  I  instructed  him, 
again  and  again,  to  assume  that  everybody 
was  dishonest.  A  ridiculous  mess  I  should 
make  of  my  affairs  if  I  did  not  keep  a  most 
rigid  system  of  checks  upon  everybody.  You 
must  remember,  my  dear,  that  I  am  beset  by 
[170] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

hungry  fellows,  many  of  them  clever  and 
courageous,  waiting  for  me  to  relax  my  vigi 
lance  so  that  they  can  swoop  on  my  fortune. 
I'm  moving  through  a  swarm  of  parasites  who 
prey  upon  my  prey  or  upon  me,  and  the  larger 
I  become  the  larger  the  swarm  and  the  more 
dangerous.  I  must  have  eyes  everywhere. 
You  should  be  reasonable." 

She  gave  me  a  curious  look.  "And  you're 
so  sublimely  unconscious  of  yourself!"  she 
said.  "That  is  why  you  are  so  terrible.  But 
it  saves  you  from  being  repulsive."  I  was  in 
stantly  on  the  alert.  Flattery  tickles  me — 
and  tickling  wakes  me.  "Can't  you  see,  you 
great  monster  of  a  man,"  she  went  on,  "that 
you  mustn't  treat  your  wife  and  children  as  if 
they  were  parasites?" 

"They  must  keep  their  accounts  with  my 
fortune  straight,"  said  I. 

To  that  point  I  held  while  she  cajoled, 
[171] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

stormed,  denounced,  threatened,  wept.  The 
longer  she  worked  upon  me  the  more  set  I  be 
came,  for  the  more  firmly  I  was  convinced  that 
there  had  been  some  sort  of  chicanery  at  which 
that  weak  fool  Burridge  had  winked.  She 
was  greatly  agitated — and  not  with  anger — 
when  she  left  me,  though  she  tried  to  conceal 
it.  I  sent  for  Cress  and  ordered  him  to  hunt 
out  Burridge's  accounts  and  vouchers  for  the 
past  fifteen  years,  or  ever  since  I  put  my  do 
mestic  finances  on  the  sound  basis  of  business. 
I  told  him  to  take  everything  to  an  expert 
accountant. 

After  two  days'  search  he  reported  to  me 
that  he  could  find  accounts  for  only  nine  years 
back  and  vouchers  for  only  the  last  three 
years.  The  rest  had  been  lost  or  deliberately 
destroyed — contrary  to  my  emphatic  orders. 
One  of  the  curses  of  large  affairs  with  limited 
time  and  imbecile  agents  is  the  vast  number 
[172] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

of  ragged  ends  hanging  out.  I  never  take  up 
any  part  of  my  business  after  having  disre 
garded  it  for  a  while  without  finding  it  rav 
elled  and  ravelling.  A  week  later  I  had  the 
accountant's  report,  reviewed  by  Cress.  I 
read  it  with  amazement.  I  sent  at  once  for 
my  wife.  I  ordered  Cress  out  of  the  room  as 
soon  as  she  entered,  for  I  wished  to  spare  her 
all  unnecessary  humiliation. 

"Madam,"  said  I,  without  the  slightest 
heat,  "you  will  kindly  make  over  to  me  all  my 
money  and  property  which  you  have  got  by 
juggling  your  accounts.  It's  about  half  a 
million,  I  think — Cress  and  I  may  presently 
discover  that  it  is  more.  But,  whatever  it  is, 
it  must  all  be  made  over." 

"I  have  nothing  that  belongs  to  you," 
she  replied,  as  calm  as  I,  and  facing  me 
steadily. 

"We  won't  quibble,"  said  I,  determined  to 
[173] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

keep  my  temper.  "All  you  have  must  be  made 
over.  I  give  you  until — day  after  to-morrow 
morning." 

"I  shall  answer  then  as  I  answer  now,"  she 
said — and  I  saw  that  she  felt  cornered  and 
would  fight  to  the  last. 

"I've  often  heard,"  I  went  on,  "that  some 
wives  take  advantage  of  their  husbands'  care 
lessness  and  confidence  to — to — I  shall  not  use 
the  proper  word — I  shall  say  to  reserve  from 
the  household  and  personal  allowances  by 
over-charges,  by  conspiring  with  tradespeople 
of  all  kinds,  by  making  out  false  bills,  by  sub 
stitution  of  jewels ' 

"That  is  true  enough,"  she  interrupted. 
"Women  who  thought  they  were  marrying 
men  and  find  they  are  married  to  monsters 
sometimes  do  imitate  their  husbands'  methods 
in  a  small,  feeble  way,  and  for  self-defence 
and  for  the  defence  of  their  children,  and  I'm 
[174] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

one  of  those  women.  I'm  ashamed  of  it — 
you've  not  hardened  me  beyond  shame  yet. 
But  in  another  sense  I'm  not  ashamed  of  it — 
I'm " 

"We  won't  quarrel,"  said  I;  "I'm  not  the 
keeper  of  your  conscience.  All  I  say  is — dis 
gorge!" 

"I've  nothing  that  belongs  to  you,"  she  re 
peated. 

"Then  you  deny  that  you  have  sto—  '  I 
began. 

"I  deny  nothing.  I  have  learned  much 
from  you  since  you  ceased  to  be  a  man,  but 
I've  not  yet  learned  how  to  educate  my  con 
science  into  being  my  pander." 

I  smiled  and  pointed  significantly  at  the 
cooked  accounts.  "Yes — here's  the  evidence 
how  sensitive  your  conscience  is  and  how  it 
must  trouble  you!"  I  couldn't  resist  saying 
this.  It  was  a  mistake,  as  retorts  always  are 
[175] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

— for  it  was  the  spark  that  touched  off  her 
temper. 

"My  conscience  does  trouble  me!"  she  blazed 
out — "troubles  me  because  I  have  remained  in 
this  house  all  these  years.  I  have  permitted 
myself  and  my  children  to  become  corrupted. 
I  have  been  content  with  merely  trying  to  pro 
vide  against  your  going  mad  with  vanity  and 
greediness,  and  turning  against  your  own 
children.  I  am  guilty — though  I  stayed  first 
through  weakness  and  love  of  you — guilty 
because  afterward  it  was  weakness  and  love 
of  what  your  wealth  bought  that  kept  me. 
But  I  thought  it  was  my  duty  to  my  children. 
I  should  have  gone  and  taken  them  with  me. 
I  should  have  gone  the  day  I  learned  you  had 
stolen  Judson's " 

In  my  fury  I  almost  struck  her.  The  very 
mention  of  Judson's  name  makes  me  irrespon 
sible.  But  she  did  not  flinch.  "Yes,"  she  went 
[176] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

on,  "and  if  you  persist  in  your  demand,  if  you 
don't  call  off  that  miserable  spy  of  yours,  I 
tell  you,  James  Galloway,  I'll  walk  out  of 
your  house  publicly  and  never  set  foot  in  it 
again!" 

"After  you  have  disgorged,"  said  I,  getting 
and  keeping  myself  well  in  hand. 

"I  shall  go,"  she  continued,  "and  what  will 
become  of  your  social  ambitions,  of  your  pet 
scheme  to  marry  Aurora  to  Horton  Kirkby, 
of  your  public  reputation?  If  I  go,  the 
whole  country  shall  ring  with  the  scandal 
of  it." 

I  hadn't  thought  of  that!  I  saw  instantly 
that  she  had  me.  With  a  scandal  of  that  kind 
public,  it  would  be  impossible  to  marry  Aurora 
into  one  of  the  oldest  and  proudest  and  richest 
families  in  New  York.  I  knew  just  how  it 
would  impress  old  Mrs.  Kirkby,  who,  if  her 
notion  of  her  social  position  were  correct, 
[1771 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

would  find  all  New  York  on  its  knees  as  she 
took  the  air  in  her  victoria.  Then  there  was 
Natalie — it  would  surely  stir  her  up  to  do 
something  disagreeable  when  she  learns  that 
she  isn't  going  to  get  the  quarter  of  a  million 
a  year  she's  dreaming  of. 

I  studied  my  wife  carefully  as  she  stood 
facing  me,  and  afterward,  while  we  went  on 
with  our  talk,  and  saw  that  she  meant  just 
what  she  said,  I  pretended  to  believe  her  state 
ment  that  she  hadn't  more  than  a  small  part 
of  her  "commissions"  left — indeed,  it  may  be 
so.  With  this  pretence  as  a  basis,  I  let  her  off 
from  disgorging.  "But,"  said  I,  "hereafter 
Cress  manages  the  household — all  the  accounts 
—I  can't  trust  you." 

"As  you  will,"  she  replied,  affecting  indif 
ference.  Probably  she  was  so  relieved  by  my 
consenting  to  drop  the  past  that  she  was  glad 
to  concede  the  future. 

[178] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

If  women  were  as  large  as  they  are  crafty, 
it  would  be  the  men  who  would  stay  at  home 
and  mind  the  babies.  As  it  is  they  can  only 
irritate  and  hamper  the  men.  It  is  fortunate 
for  me  that  women  have  never  had  influence 
over  me.  I'd  not  be  where  I  am  if  I  had  taken 
them  seriously. 

Soon  after  this  shocking  discovery  there 
happened  what  was,  in  some  respects,  the  most 
unpleasant  incident  of  my  life. 

One  afternoon,  as  the  heating  apparatus  in 
my  sitting-room  was  out  of  order,  I  went 
down  to  the  library  and  was  lying  on  the 
lounge  thinking  out  some  of  the  day's  business 
complications.  I  was  presently  disturbed  by 
the  sound  of  excited  voices — my  wife's  and 
my  daughter  Helen's.  The  noise  came  from 
the  small  reception-room  adjoining  the  library. 
It  is  very  annoying  to  hear  voices,  especially 
agitated  voices,  and  not  to  be  able  to  distin- 
[179] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

guish  the  words.  I  rose  and  went  quietly  to 
the  connecting  door  and  listened. 

"I  won't  have  it,  Helen!"  my  wife  was  say 
ing.  "You  know  that  is  the  most  exclusive 
dancing  class  in  New  York." 

"I  don't  care;  I  shall  never  go  again — 
never!"  The  child's  voice  was  as  resolute  as 
it  was  angry. 

"Helen,  you  must  not  speak  in  that  way  to 
your  mother!"  replied  my  wife.  "Unless  you 
give  a  good  reason,  you  must  go — and  there 
can't  be  any  reason." 

"Don't  ask  me,  mother!"  she  pleaded. 

"You  must  tell  me  why.     I  insist." 

There  was  a  long  silence,  then  Helen  said: 
"I  can't  tell  you  any  more  than  that  some  of 
the  girls — insult  me." 

"What  do  you  mean?"  exclaimed  my  wife. 

"Several  of  them  turn  their  backs  on  me, 
and  won't  speak  to  me,  and  look  at  me — oh!" 
[180] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

That  exclamation  came  in  a  burst  of  fury. 
"And  they  sneer  at  me  to  the  boys — and  some 
of  them  won't  speak  to  me,  either." 

There  was  another  silence.  Then  my  wife 
said:  "You  must  expect  that,  Helen.  So 
many  are  envious  of  your  father's — of  his 
wealth,  that  they  try  to  take  their  spite  out 
upon  us.  But  you  must  have  pride.  The  way 
to  deal  with  such  a  situation  is  to  face  it — 

All  the  blame  upon  me!  I  could  not  endure 
it.  I  put  the  door  very  softly  and  very  slight 
ly  ajar  and  returned  to  the  lounge.  From 
there  I  called  out:  "Don't  forget  the  other 
reason,  madam,  while  you're  teaching  your 
child  to  respect  her  parents."  Then  I  rose 
and  went  into  the  reception-room. 

Helen  was  white  as  a  sheet.  My  wife  was 
smiling  a  little — satirically.  "Eavesdrop 
ping?"  she  said — apparently  not  in  the  least 
[181] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

disturbed  at  my  having  heard  her  insidious 
attack  upon  me. 

"I  could  not  help  overhearing  your  quar 
rel,"  I  replied,  "and  I  felt  it  was  time  for  me 
to  speak.  No  doubt  your  lack  of  skill  in  social 
matters  is  the  chief  cause  of  this  outrage  upon 
Helen.  Of  what  use  is  it  for  me  to  toil  and 
struggle  when  you  cannot  take  advantage  of 
what  my  achievement  ought  to  make  so  easy 
for  you?" 

"Father—  '  interrupted  Helen. 

"Your  mother  is  right,"  I  said,  turning  to 
her.  "You  must  go  to  the  class.  In  a  short 
time  all  these  unpleasant  incidents  will  be  over. 
If  any  of  those  children  persist,  you  will  give 
me  their  names.  I  think  I  know  how  to  bring 
their  fathers  to  terms,  if  your  mother  is  unable 
to  cope  with  their  mothers." 

"Father,"   Helen   repeated,   "it   wasn't   on 
her  account  that  they — they— 
[182] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

This  exasperated  me  afresh.  "Your  mother 
has  trained  you  well,  I  see,"  said  I.  "Now — 
I  tell  you  that  what  you  say  is— 

She  started  to  her  feet,  her  eyes  flashing, 
her  breath  coming  fast.  "I'll  tell  you  why  I 
came  home  to-day  and  said  I'd  never  go  there 
again.  I  was  talking  to  Herbert  Merivale  at 
the  dance,  this  afternoon,  and  his  sister  Nell 
and  Lottie  Stuyvesant  were  sitting  near,  and 
Lottie  said,  loud,  so  that  Herbert  and  I  would 
hear:  'I  don't  see  why  your  brother  talks  to 
her.  None  of  the  very  nice  boys  and  girls  will 
have  anything  to  do  with  her,  you  know. 
How  can  we  when  she's — she's— 

Helen  stopped,  her  face  flushed,  and  her 
head  dropped.  My  wife  said:  "Go  on,  Helen; 
what  was  it?" 

"'When  she's  the— the— daughter  of  a— 

thief  r " 

I  was  so  overwhelmed  that  I  fairly  stag- 
[183] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

gered  into  a  chair.  Helen  darted  to  me  and 
knelt  beside  me.  "And  I  wont  go  there 
again!  I  didn't  show  her  that  I  was  cut.  I 
didn't  feel  cut.  I  only  felt  what  a  great,  noble 
father  I  have,  and  how  low  and  contemptible 
all  those  girls  and  boys  and  their  parents  are. 
I  stayed  until  nearly  the  last.  But  I'll  never 
go  again.  You  won't  ask  me  to,  will  you, 
father?" 

I  patted  her  on  the  shoulder.  It  was  impos 
sible  for  me  to  answer  her.  Whether  through 
fear  of  me  or  to  gain  her  point  with  her  child, 
my  wife  concealed  the  triumph  she  must  have 
felt,  and  said:  "The  more  reason  for  going, 
Helen.  Where  is  your  pride?  If  you  should 
stay  away,  they  would  say  it  was  because  you 
were  ashamed " 

"But  that  isn't  the  reason,"  interrupted 
Helen.  "And  I  don't  care  what  they  think!" 
she  added,  scornfully. 

[184] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

I  have  never  been  in  such  a  rage  as  pos 
sessed  me  at  that  moment.  I  felt  an  insane 
impulse  to  rush  out  and  strangle  and  torture 
those  envious  wretches  who  were  seeking  to 
revenge  themselves  for  having  been  worsted 
in  the  encounter  with  me  down-town  by  hu 
miliating  my  children.  But  the  matter  of 
Helen's  holding  the  social  advantage  we  had 
gained  when  we  got  the  Merivales  to  put  her 
in  that  class  was  too  important  to  be  neglected 
for  a  burst  of  impotent  fury.  I  joined  with 
her  mother,  and  finally  we  brought  her  round 
to  see  that  she  must  keep  on  at  the  class  and 
must  make  a  fight  to  overthrow  the  clique  of 
traducers  of  her  father.  When  she  saw  it  her 
enthusiasm  was  roused,  and — well,  she  can't 
fail  to  win  with  her  cleverness  and  good  looks, 
and  with  me  to  back  her  up. 

What  that  miserable  girl  said  in  her  hear 
ing,  and  her  expression  as  she  repeated  it, 
[185] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

comes  back  to  me  again  and  again,  and,  some 
how,  I  feel  as  if  old  Judson  were  getting  re 
venge  upon  me.  First  James — and  now 
Helen!  But  James  believed  it,  while  Helen, 
splendid  girl  that  she  is,  knew  at  once  that  it 
was  untrue.  At  least,  I  think  so. 

What  an  ugly  word  "thief"  is!  And  how 
ugly  it  sounds  from  the  lips  of  my  child- 
even  when  there  is  no  real  justification  for  it! 
I  know  that  all  who  come  in  contact  with  me, 
whether  socially  or  in  business,  envy  and  hate 
me.  It  seems  to  me  now  that  I  know  the 
thought  in  their  spiteful  brains — know  the 
word  that  trembles  on  their  lips  but  dares  not 
come  out. 

Yesterday  I  turned  upon  my  wife  when  we 
were  alone  for  a  moment.  I  have  felt  that 
she  has  been  gloating  over  me  ever  since  that 
afternoon. 

"Well,"  I  said,  angrily — for  I  have  been 
[186] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

extremely  irritable  through  sleeplessness  of 
late,  "why  don't  you  say  it,  instead  of  keeping 
this  cowardly  silence?  Why  don't  you  taunt 
me?" 

She  showed  what  she'd  been  thinking  by 
understanding  me  instantly.  "Taunt  you!" 
she  said;  "I'm  trying  to  forget  it — I've  been 
trying  to  forget  it  all  these  years.  That's  why 
I'm  an  old  woman  long  before  my  time." 

Her  look  was  a  very  good  imitation  of 
tragedy.  I  felt  unable  to  answer  her  and  so 
begin  a  quarrel  that  might  have  relieved  my 
mind.  The  best  I  was  able  to  do  was  to  say, 
sarcastically:  "So  that's  the  reason,  is  it?  I 
had  noted  the  fact,  but  was  attributing  it  to 
your  anxiety  about  falsifying  your  accounts." 

I  hurried  away  before  she  had  a  chance  to 
reply. 


[187] 


A  curious  kind  of  cowardice  has  been  grow 
ing  on  me  of  late.  Whenever  I  feel  the 
slightest  pain  or  ache — a  twinge  I'd  not  have 
given  a  second  thought  to  a  year  or  so  ago 
— I  send  post-haste  for  my  doctor,  the  ridic 
ulous,  lying,  flattering  Hanbury.  My  in 
telligence  forbids  me  to  put  the  least  con 
fidence  in  him.  I  know  he'd  no  more  tell  me 
or  any  other  rich  man  a  disagreeable  truth 
than  he'd  tell  one  of  his  rich  old  women  that 
she  was  past  the  age  of  pleasing  men.  Yet 
I  send  for  Hanbury;  and  I  swallow  his  lies 
about  my  health,  and  urge  him  on  to  feed  me 
lies  about  my  youthful  appearance  that  are 
even  more  absurd.  I'm  thinking  of  employ 
ing  him  exclusively  and  keeping  him  by  me — 
[188] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

for  companionship.  Cress  is  worse  than 
worthless  except  for  business,  Jack  is  getting 
stale  and  repetitive  with  age,  and  I  badly  need 
some  one  to  amuse  me,  to  take  my  mind  off 
myself  and  my  affairs  and  my  family. 

At  this  moment  I  happen  to  be  in  my  mood 
for  mocking  my  fears  and  follies  about  the 
end.  The  End!— I'm  not  afraid  of  what 
comes  after.  All  the  horror  I'm  capable  of 
feeling  goes  into  the  thought  of  giving  up  my 
crown  and  my  sceptre,  my  millions  and  my 
dominion  over  men  and  affairs.  The  after 
ward?  I've  never  had  either  the  time  or  the 
mind  for  the  speculative  and  the  intangible — 
at  least  not  since  I  passed  the  sentimental 
period  of  youth. 

Each  day  my  power  grows — and  my  love 

of  power  and  my  impatience  of  opposition. 

It  seems  to  me  sacrilege  for  any  one  to  dare 

oppose  me  when  I  have  so  completely  vindi- 

[189] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

cated  my  right  to  lead  and  to  rule.  I  under 
stand  those  tyrants  of  history  who  used  to  be 
abhorrent  to  me — much  could  be  said  in  de 
fence  of  them.  Once  the  power  I  now  wield 
would  have  seemed  tremendous.  And  it  is  tre 
mendous.  But  I  am  so  often  galled  by  its 
limitations,  more  often  still  by  the  absurd 
obstacles  that  delay  and  fret  me. 

Early  last  month  I  found  that  down  at 
Washington  they  were  about  to  pass  a  law 
"regulating"  railway  rates,  which  means,  of 
course,  lowering  them  and  cutting  my  divi 
dends  and  disarranging  my  plans  in  general. 

I  telephoned   Senator  ,  whom  we  keep 

down  there  to  see  that  that  sort  of  dema- 
goguery  is  held  in  check,  to  come  to  me  in 
New  York  at  once.  He  appeared  at  my  house 
the  same  evening,  full  of  excuses  and  apolo 
gies.  "The  public  clamour  is  so  great,"  said 
he,  "and  the  arguments  of  the  opposition  are 
[190] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

so  plausible,  that  we  simply  have  to  do  some 
thing.  This  bill  is  the  least  possible." 

I  rarely  argue  with  understrappers.  I 
merely  told  him  to  go  to  my  lawyer's  house, 
get  the  bill  I  had  ordered  drawn,  take  it  back 
to  Washington  on  the  midnight  train,  and  put 
it  through.  "You  old  women  down  there," 
said  I,  "seem  incapable  of  learning  that  the 
mob  isn't  appeased,  but  is  made  hungrier,  by 
getting  what  it  wants.  Humbug's  the  only 
dish  for  it.  Fill  it  full  of  humbug  and  it  gets 
indigestion  and  wishes  it  had  never  asked  for 
anything." 

My  substitute  was  apparently  more  drastic 
than  the  other  bill,  but  I  had  ordered  into  it  a 
clause  that  would  send  it  into  the  courts  where 
we  could  keep  it  shuffling  back  and  forth  for 
years.  To  throw  the  demagogues  off  the 

scent,  Senator  had  it  introduced  by  one 

of  the  leaders  of  the  opposition — as  clever  a 
[191] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

dealer  in  humbug  as  ever  took  command  of  a 
mob  in  order  to  set  it  brawling  with  itself  at 
the  critical  moment.  Our  fellows  pretended 
to  yield  with  great  reluctance  to  this  "sweep 
ing  and  dangerous  measure,"  and  it  went 
through  both  houses  with  a  whirl. 

The  President  was  about  to  sign  it  when  up 

started  that  scoundrel  -,  who  owes  his 

fortune  to  me  and  who  got  his  place  on  the 
recommendation  of  several  of  us  who  thought 
him  a  safe,  loyal,  honourable  man.  The  rascal 
pointed  out  the  saving  clause  in  my  bill  and 
made  such  a  stir  in  the  newspapers  that  our 
scheme  was  apparently  ruined. 

I  quietly  took  a  regular  express  for  Wash 
ington,  keeping  close  to  my  drawing-room. 
By  roundabout  orders  from  -me  a  telegram 
had  been  sent  to  a  signal  tower  in  the  outskirts 
of  Washington,  and  it  halted  the  train.  In 
the  darkness  I  slipped  away,  hailed  a  cab,  and 
[192] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

drove  to  's  house.  He  was  taken  com 
pletely  by  surprise — I  suppose  he  thought  I'd 
be  afraid  to  come  near  him,  or  to  try  to  reach 
him  in  any  way  with  those  nosing  newspapers 
watching  every  move.  The  only  excuse  he 
could  make  for  himself  was  a  whine  about 


'conscience." 


"I  am  taking  the  retaining  fee  of  the  peo 
ple,"  said  he;  "I  must  serve  their  interests  just 
as  I  served  you  when  I  took  your  retainers." 
This  was  his  plea  at  the  end  of  a  two  hours' 
talk  in  which  I  had  exhausted  argument  and 
inducement.  I  felt  that  gentleness  and  di 
plomacy  were  in  vain.  I  released  my  temper 
— temper  with  me  is  not  waste  steam,  but 
powder  to  be  saved  until  it  can  be  exploded  to 
some  purpose. 

"We  put  you  in  office,  sir,"  I  replied,  "and 
we  will  put  you  out.  You  owe  your  honours 
to  us,  not  to  this  mob  you're  pandering  to  now 
[193] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

in  the  hope  of  getting  something  or  other. 
We'll  punish  you  for  your  treachery  if  you 
persist  in  it.  We'll  drop  you  back  into  ob 
scurity,  and  you'll  see  how  soon  your  'people' 
will  forget  you." 

He  paled  and  quivered  under  the  lash.  "If 
the  people  were  not  so  sane  and  patient,"  said 
he,  "they'd  act  like  another  Samson.  They'd 
pull  the  palace  down  upon  themselves  for  the 
pleasure  of  seeing  you  banqueting  Philistines 
get  your  deserts." 

"Don't  inflict  a  stump  speech  on  me,"  said 
I,  going  to  the  door — it  just  occurred  to 
me  that  he  might  publicly  eject  me  from  his 
house  and  so  make  himself  too  strong  to  be 
dislodged  immediately.  "Within  six  months 
you'll  be  out  of  office — unless  you  come  to 
your  senses." 

So  I  left  him.  A  greater  fool  I  never  knew. 
I  can  understand  the  out-in-the-cold  fellow 
[194] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

snapping  his  fangs;  but  for  the  life  of  me  I 
can't  understand  a  man  with  even  a  job  as 
waiter  or  crumb-scraper  at  the  banquet  doing 
anything  to  get  himself  into  trouble.  He 
proved  not  merely  a  fool,  but  a  weak  fool  as 
well;  for,  after  a  few  days  of  thinking  it  over, 
he  switched  round,  withdrew  his  objection,  and 
explained  it  away — and  so  my  bill  was  signed. 
But  we  are  done  with  him.  A  man  may  be 
completely  cured  of  an  attack  of  insanity,  but 
who  would  ever  give  him  a  position  of  trust 
afterward?  Not  I,  for  one.  Too  many  men 
who  have  never  gone  crazy  are  waiting,  eager 
to  serve  us. 

Still,  looking  back  over  the  incident,  I  am 
not  satisfied  with  myself.  I  won,  but  I  played 
badly.  I  must  be  careful — I  am  becoming  too 
arrogant.  If  he  had  been  a  little  stronger  and 
cleverer,  he  would  have  had  me  thrown  out  of 
his  house,  and  I  don't  care  to  think  what  a 
[195] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

position  that  would  have  put  me  in,  not  only 
then,  but  also  for  the  future.  As  long  as  I 
was  engaged  in  hand-to-hand  battle  and  had 
personally  to  take  what  I  got,  it  was  well  to 
have  an  outward  bearing  that  frightened  the 
timid  and  made  the  easy-going  anxious  to 
conciliate  me.  But,  now  that  I  employ  others 
to  retrieve  the  game  I  bring  down,  it  is  wiser 
that  I  show  courtesy  and  consideration.  I  get 
better  service ;  I  cause  less  criticism.  Enemies 
are  indispensable  to  a  rising  man — they  put 
him  on  his  mettle  and  make  people  look  on 
him  as  important.  But  to  a  risen  man  they 
are  either  valueless  or  a  hindrance,  and,  at 
critical  moments,  a  danger. 

It  is  one  of  the  large  ironies  of  life  that 
when  one  has  with  infinite  effort  gained  pow 
er,  one  dares  not  indulge  in  the  great  pleasure 
of  openly  exercising  it,  for  fear  of  losing  it. 
Not  even  I  can  eat  my  cake  and  have  it. 
[196] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

Sometimes  success  seems  to  me  to  mean  rising 
to  a  height  where  one  can  more  clearly  see  the 
things  one  cannot  have. 

And  now  luck,  plus  strong  rowing  and 
right  steering,  swept  me  on  to  another  success 
— this  time  a  brilliant  marriage.  The  element 
of  luck  was  particularly  large  in  this  instance, 
as  in  any  matter  where  one  of  the  factors  is 
feminine.  Every  wise  planner  reduces  the 
human  element  in  his  projects  to  the  mini 
mum,  because  human  nature  is  as  uncertain  as 
chance  itself.  But  while  one  can  always  rely, 
to  a  certain  extent,  upon  the  human  element 
where  it  is  masculine,  where  it  is  feminine 
there's  absolutely  no  more  foundation  than  in 
a  quicksand.  The  women  not  only  unsettle 
the  men,  but  they  also  unsettle  themselves; 
and,  acting  always  upon  impulse,  they  are  as 
likely  as  not  to  fly  straight  in  the  face  of  what 
is  best  for  them.  Women  are  incapable  of  co- 
[197] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

operation.  The  only  business  they  understand 
or  take  a  genuine  interest  in  is  the  capture  of 
men — a  business  which  each  woman  must  pur 
sue  independently  and  alone. 

Fortunately,  Aurora,  like  most  of  the  young 
women  of  our  upper  class,  had  been  thor 
oughly  trained  in  correct  ideas  of  self-in 
terest. 

She  was  born  in  the  purple.  When  she 
came  into  the  world  I  had  been  a  millionaire 
several  years,  and  my  wife  and  I  had  changed 
our  point  of  view  on  life  from  that  of  the 
lower  middle  class  in  which  we  were  bred 
(though  we  didn't  know  it  at  the  time,  and 
thought  ourselves  "as  good  as  anybody"),  to 
that  of  the  upper  class,  to  which  my  genius 
forced  our  admission.  Aurora  was  our  first 
child  to  have  a  French  nurse,  the  first  to  have 
teachers  at  home — a  French  governess  and  a 
German  one. 

[198] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

James  had  gone  to  the  public  school  and 
then  to  Phillips  Exeter;  Walter  had  gone  to 

public  school  a  little  while,  and  then  to  , 

where  he  was  prepared  for  Harvard,  not  in  a 
mixed  and  somewhat  motley  crowd,  as  James 
was,  but  in  a  company  made  up  exclusively  of 
youths  of  his  own  class,  the  sons  of  those  who 
are  aristocratic  by  birth  or  by  achievement. 
Aurora  was  even  more  exclusively  educated. 
She — with  difficulty,  as  we  were  still  new  to 
our  position — was  got  into  a  small  class  of 
aristocratic  children  that  met  at  the  house  of 
the  parents  of  two  of  them.  Each  day  she 
went  there  in  one  of  our  carriages  with  her 
French  nursery  governess,  promoted  to  be  her 
companion;  and,  when  the  class  was  over  for 
the  day,  the  companion  called  for  her  in  the 
carriage  and  took  her  home. 

All  Aurora's  young  friends  were  girls  like 
herself,  bred  in  the  strictest  ideas  of  the  re- 
[199] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

sponsibilities  of  their  station,  and  intent  upon 
making  a  social  success,  and,  of  course,  a  suc 
cessful  marriage.  At  the  time,  my  wife,  who 
had  not  then  been  completely  turned  by  the 
adulation  my  wealth  had  brought  her,  used  to 
express  to  me  her  doubts  whether  these  chil 
dren  were  not  too  sordid.  I  was  half  inclined 
to  agree  with  her,  for  it  isn't  pleasant  to  hear 
mere  babies  talk  of  nothing  but  dresses  and 
jewels,  palaces  and  liveries  and  carriages, 
good  "catches,"  and  social  position.  But  I  see 
now  that  there  is  no  choice  between  that  sort 
of  education  and  sheer  sentimentalism.  It  is 
far  better  that  children  who  are  to  inherit  mill 
ions  and  the  responsibilities  of  high  station 
should  be  over-sordid  than  over-sentimental. 
Sordidness  will  never  lead  them  into  the  ruin 
ous  mischief  of  prodigality  and  bad  mar 
riages;  sentimentalism  is  almost  certain  to 
do  so. 

[200] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

My  wife  was  extremely  careful,  as  the 
mothers  of  our  class  must  be,  to  scan  the 
young  men  who  were  permitted  to  talk  with 
Aurora.  Only  the  eligible  had  the  opportu 
nity  to  get  well  acquainted  with  her — indeed, 
I  believe  Horton  Kirkby  was  the  first  man  she 
really  knew  well. 

It  was  a  surprise  to  me  when  Kirkby  began 
to  show  a  preference  for  her.  His  mother  is 
one  of  the  leaders  of  that  inner  circle  of  fash 
ionable  society  which  still  barred  the  doors 
haughtily  against  us,  though  it  admitted  many 
who  were  glad  to  be  our  friends — perhaps  I 
should  say  my  friends.  Kirkby  himself  keenly 
delighted  in  the  power  which  his  combination 
of  vast  wealth,  old  family,  and  impregnable 
social  position  gave  him.  Every  one  supposed 
he  would  marry  in  his  own  set.  But  Aurora 
got  a  chance  at  him,  and — well,  Aurora  in 
herits  something  of  my  magnetism  and  luck. 
[201] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

Kirkby's  coldness  to  me  at  the  outset  and  his 
mother's  deliberately  snubbing  us  again  and 
again  make  me  think  his  intentions  were  not 
then  serious.  But  Aurora  alternately  fired 
and  froze  him  with  such  skill  that  she  suc 
ceeded  in  raising  in  his  mind  a  doubt  which 
had  probably  never  entered  it  before — a  doubt 
of  his  ability  to  marry  any  woman  he  might 
choose.  So,  she  triumphed. 

But  after  they  were  engaged  she  continued 
to  play  fast  and  loose  with  him.  At  first  I 
thought  this  was  only  clever  manoeuvring  on 
her  part  to  keep  him  uncertain  and  interested. 
But  I  presently  began  to  be  uneasy  and  sent 
her  mother  to  question  her  adroitly.  "She 
says,"  my  wife  reported  to  me,  "that  she  can't 
take  him  and  she  can't  give  him  up.  She  says 
there's  one  thing  she'd  object  to  more  than  to 
marrying  him,  and  that  is  to  seeing  some  other 
girl  marry  him." 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

"What  nonsense!"  said  I;  "I  thought  she 
was  too  well  brought  up  for  such  folly." 

"You  must  admit  Kirkby  is — clammy,"  re 
plied  my  wife,  always  full  of  excuses  for  her 
children. 

Before  I  could  move  to  bring  Aurora  to  her 
senses,  Kirkby  did  it — by  breaking  off  the  en 
gagement  and  transferring  his  attentions  to 
Mary  Stuyvesant,  poor  as  poverty  but  beau 
tiful  and  well  born.  Within  a  week  Aurora 
had  him  back;  within  a  fortnight  she  had  the 
cards  out  for  the  wedding. 

The  presents  began  to  pour  in;  two  rooms 
down-stairs  were  filling  with  magnificence, 
and  we  had  sent  several  van  loads  to  the  safety 
deposit  vaults.  There  must  have  been  close 
upon  half  a  million  dollars'  worth,  including 
my  gift  of  a  forty-thousand-dollar  tiara.  Ev 
ery  one  in  the  house  was  agitated.  I  had  given 
my  wife  and  daughter  carte  blanche,  releasing 
[203] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

Cress  arid  Jack  Ridley  from  attendance  on  me 
to  assist  them  and  to  see  that  extravagance  did 
not  spread  into  absolutely  wanton  waste.  But 
this  does  not  mean  that  I  was  not  in  hearty 
sympathy  with  my  wife's  efforts  to  make  the 
full  realisation  of  our  social  ambition  a  mem 
orable  occasion.  On  the  contrary,  I  wanted 
precisely  that;  and  I  knew  the  way  to  accom 
plish  it  was  by  getting  five  cents'  worth  for 
every  five  cents  spent,  not  by  imitating  the 
wastefulness  of  the  ignorant  poor.  I  was 
willing  that  the  dollars  should  fly;  but  I 
was  determined  that  each  one  should  hit  the 
mark. 

Jack  Ridley  said  to  me  once:  "Why,  to  you 
five  hundred  dollars  is  less  than  one  dollar 
would  be  to  me." 

"Not  at  all,"  I  replied;  "we  cling  to  five 
cents  more  tightly  than  you  would  to  five  dol 
lars.  We  know  the  value  of  money  because 
[204] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

we  have  it;  you  don't  know  because  you 
haven't." 

But  the  happiest,  most  interested  person  in 
all  the  household  was  my  daughter  Helen. 
She  was  to  be  maid  of  honour,  and  on  the  wed 
ding  day  was  to  make  her  first  appearance  in 
a  long  dress.  It  seemed  to  me  that  she  sud 
denly  flashed  out  into  wonderful  beauty — a 
strange  kind  of  beauty,  all  in  shades  of  golden 
brown  and  having  an  air  of  mystery  that 
moved  even  me  to  note  and  admire  and  be 
proud — and  a  little  uneasy.  Obviously  she 
would  be  able  to  make  a  magnificent  marriage, 
if  she  could  be  controlled.  The  greater  the 
prize,  the  greater  the  anxiety  until  it  is 
grasped. 

When  she  tried  on  that  first  long  dress  of 

hers  she  came  in  to  show  herself  off  to  me. 

She  has  never  been  in  the  least  afraid  of  me 

— there  is  a  fine,  utter  courage  looking  from 

[205] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

her  eyes — an  assurance  that  she  could  not  be 
afraid  of  any  one  or  anything. 

She  turned  round  slowly,  that  I  might  get 
the  full  effect.  "Well,  well!"  said  I,  put  into 
a  tolerant  mood  by  my  pride  in  her.  "Aurora 
had  better  keep  you  out  of  Horton's  sight 
until  after  the  ceremony." 

She  tossed  her  head.  "He'd  be  safe  from 
me  if  there  wasn't  another  man  in  the  world," 
she  answered. 

I  frowned  on  this.  "You'll  have  a  hard 
time  making  as  good  a  marriage  as  your  sister, 
miss,"  said  I.  "You'll  see,  when  we  begin  to 
look  for  a  husband  for  you." 

"I  shall  look  for  my  own  husband,  thank 
you,"  she  replied,  pertly. 

But  her  smile  was  so  bright  that  I  only  said, 
"We'll  cross  that  bridge,  miss,  when  we  come 
to  it — we'll  cross  it  together." 

There  was  an  unpleasant  silence — her  ex- 
[206] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

pression  made  me  feel  more  strongly  than  ever 
before  that  she  would  be  troublesome.  I  said: 
"How  old  are  you  now?" 

"Why,  don't  you  remember?  I  was  six 
teen  last  Wednesday.  You  gave  me  this." 
She  touched  a  pearl  brooch  at  her  neck. 

No,  I  didn't  remember — Ridley  attends  to 
all  those  little  matters  for  me.  But  I  said, 
"To  be  sure,"  and  patted  her  on  the  shoulder 
—and  let  her  kiss  me,  and  then  sent  her  away. 
For  a  moment  I  envied  the  men  whose  humble 
station  enables  them  to  enjoy  more  of  such 
intercourse  as  that.  I  confess  I  have  my 
moments  when  all  this  striving  and  struggling 
after  money  and  power  seems  miserably  un 
satisfactory,  and  I  picture  myself  and  my 
fellow  strugglers  as  so  many  lunatics  in  a 
world  full  of  sane  people  whom  we  toil  for  and 
give  a  bad  quarter  of  an  hour  now  and  then 
as  our  lunacy  becomes  violent. 
[207] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

But  that  is  a  passing  mood. 

The  next  I  heard  of  Helen  she  had  set  the 
whale  house  in  an  uproar.  Two  days  before 
the  wedding  she  shut  herself  in  her  apartment 
and  sent  out  word  by  her  maid  that  she  would 
not  be  maid  of  honour — would  not  attend  the 
wedding.  "I.  can  do  nothing  with  her,"  said 
my  wife;  "she's  been  beyond  my  control  for 
two  years." 

"I'll  go  to  her,"  I  said.  "We'll  see  who's 
master  in  this  house." 

She  herself  opened  her  sitting-room  door 
for  me.  She  had  a  book  in  her  hand  and  was 
apparently  calm  and  well  prepared.  The  look 
in  her  eyes  made  me  think  of  what  my  wife 
had  once  said  to  me:  "Be  careful  how  you  try 
to  bully  her,  James.  She's  like  you — and 
Jim." 

"What's  this  I  hear  about  you  refusing  to 
appear  in  your  first  long  dress?"  I  asked — a 
[208] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

very  different  remark,  I'll  admit,  from  the 
one  I  intended  to  open  with. 

She  smiled  faintly,  but  did  not  take  her  seri 
ous  eyes  from  mine.  "I  can't  go  to  the  wed 
ding,"  said  she.  "Please,  father,  don't  ask  it! 
I — I  hoped  they  wouldn't  tell  you.  I  told 
them  they  might  say  I  was  ill." 

I  managed  to  look  away  from  her  and  col 
lect  my  thoughts.  "You  are  the  youngest,"  I 
began,  "and  we  have  been  foolishly  weak  with 
you.  But  the  time  has  come  to  bring  you 
under  control  and  save  you  from  your  own 
folly.  Understand  me !  You  will  go  to  the 
wedding,  and  you  will  go  as  maid  of  honour." 
I  was  master  of  myself  again  and  I  spoke  the 
last  words  sternly,  and  was  in  the  humour  for 
a  struggle.  She  had  roused  one  of  my  strong 
est  passions — the  passion  for  breaking  wills 
that  oppose  mine. 

There  was  a  long  pause,  and  then  she  said, 
[209] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 
quietly:    "Very   well,    father.      I    shall   obey 

you." 

I  was  like  a  man  who  has  flung  himself  with 
all  his  might  against  what  he  thinks  is  a  pow 
erful  obstacle  and  finds  himself  sprawling 
ridiculously  upon  vacancy.  I  lost  my  temper. 
"What  do  you  mean,"  I  exclaimed,  angrily, 
"by  making  all  this  fuss  about  nothing?  You 
will  go  at  once  and  apologise  to  your  mother 
and  sister." 

She  sat  silent,  her  eyes  down. 

"Do  you  hear?"  I  demanded. 

She  fixed  her  gaze  steadily  on  mine.  "Yes, 
sir,"  she  answered,  "but  I  cannot  obey." 

"How  dare  you  say  that  to  me?"  I  said,  so 
furious  that  I  was  calm.  I  had  a  sense  of  im 
potence — as  if  the  irresistible  force  had  struck 
the  immovable  body. 

"Because  what  you  ask  isn't  right." 

"You  forget  that  I  am  your  father." 
[210] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

"And  you  forget  that  I  am" — she  drew  her 
self  up  proudly  and  looked  at  me  unafraid — 
"your  daughter." 

There  seems  to  be  some  sort  of  magic  in  her. 
I  can't  understand  it  myself,  but  her  answer 
completely  changed  my  feeling  toward  her. 
It  had  never  before  occurred  to  me  that  the 
fact  of  her  being  my  daughter  gave  her  rights 
and  privileges  which  would  be  intolerable  in 
another.  I  saw  family  pride  for  the  first  time 
and  instantly  respected  it.  "If  I  only  had  a 
son  like  you!"  I  said,  on  impulse,  for  the  mo 
ment  forgetting  everything  else  in  this  new 
conception  of  family-line  and  its  meaning. 

The  tears  rushed  to  her  eyes.  She  leaned 
forward  in  her  eagerness.  "You  had — you 
have,"  she  said.  "Oh,  father " 

"Not  another  word,"  I  said,  sternly;  "why 
did  you  refuse  to  go  to  Aurora's  wedding?" 

"Tuesday  night  she  came  into  my  room  and 
[211] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

got  into  my  bed.  She  put  her  arms  round  me 
and  said,  'Helen,  I  cant  marry  him!  He's— 
he's  just  awful!  It  makes  me  cold  all  over  for 
him  to  touch  me.'  We  talked  nearly  all  night 

—and — I  feel  sorry  for  her — but  I  felt  it 
would  be  wrong  for  me  to  go  to  the  wedding 
or  have  anything  to  do  with  it.  She  wouldn't 
break  it  off — she  said  she'd  go  on  if  it  killed 
her.  And  I  begged  her  to  go  to  you  and  ask 
you  to  stop  it,  but  she  said  she  wanted  to  marry 
him  or  she  wouldn't.  And — but  when  you 
said  I  must  go,  it  seemed  to  me  it'd  be  wrong 
to  disobey.  Only — I  can't  apologise  to  them 

—I  can't — because — I've  done  nothing  to 
apologise  for." 

"Never  mind,  child,"  I  said — I  felt  thor 
oughly  uncomfortable.  It  is  impossible  clear 
ly  to  explain  many  matters  to  an  innocent 
mind.  "You  need  not  apologise.  But  pay  no 
attention  to  Aurora's  hysterics — and  enjoy 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

yourself  at  the  wedding.  Girls  always  act 
absurdly  when  they're  about  to  marry.  Six 
months  from  now  she'll  be  the  happiest  woman 
in  New  York,  and  if  she  didn't  marry  him 
she'd  be  the  most  wretched." 

"Poor  Aurora!"  said  Helen,  with  a  long 
sigh. 

But  Helen  could  not  have  said  "poor"  Au 
rora  on  the  great  day  at  St.  Bartholomew's. 
It  was,  indeed,  an  hour  of  triumph  for  us  all. 
As  she  and  Kirkby  came  down  from  the  altar, 
I  glanced  round  the  church  and  had  one  of  my 
moments  of  happiness.  There  they  all  were 
— all  the  pride  and  fashion  and  established 
wealth  of  New  York — all  of  them  at  my  feet. 
I,  who  had  sprung  from  nothing;  I,  who  had 
had  to  fight,  fight,  fight,  staking  everything — 
yes,  character,  even  liberty  itself — here  was  I, 
enthroned,  equal  to  the  highest,  able  to  put  my 
heel  upon  the  necks  of  those  who  had  regarded 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

me  as  part  of  the  dirt  under  their  feet.  I  went 
down  the  aisle  of  the  church,  drunk  with  pride 
and  joy.  I  had  not  had  such  happiness  since 
that  day  when,  smarting  under  Judson's  in 
sults,  I  suddenly  remembered  that,  if  he  had 
honour,  I  had  the  million  and  was  a  million 
aire.  As  my  wife  and  I  drove  back  to  the 
house  for  the  reception,  I  caught  myself  mut 
tering  to  the  crowds  pushing  indifferently 
along  the  sidewalks,  intent  upon  their  fool 
ish  little  business,  "Bow!  Bow!  Don't  you 
know  that  one  of  your  masters  is  pass- 
ing?" 

Just  as  I  was  in  the  full  swing  of  this  ec 
stasy  I  happened  to  notice  a  huge  stain  on  the 
costly  cream-coloured  lining  of  the  brougham 
— I  was  in  my  wife's  carriage.  "What's 
that?"  said  I,  pointing  to  it. 

She  told  a  silly  story  of  how  she  had  care 
lessly  broken  a  bottle  in  the  carriage  a  few 
[214] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

days  before  and  had  ruined  a  seven-hundred- 
dollar  dress  and  the  carriage-lining. 

Instantly  the  routine  of  my  life  claimed  me 
— my  happiness  was  over.  I  made  the  natural 
comment  upon  such  criminal  indifference  to 
the  cost  of  things;  she  retorted  after  her  irra 
tional,  irresponsible  fashion.  We  were  soon 
quarrelling  fiercely  upon  the  all-important 
subject,  money,  which  she  persists  in  denounc 
ing  as  vulgar.  We  could  scarcely  compose  our 
faces  to  leave  the  carriage  and  make  a  proper 
appearance  before  the  crowds  without  the 
house  and  the  throngs  within.  As  for  me,  my 
day  was  ruined. 

But  the  reception  was,  in  fact,  a  failure, 
though  it  seemed  a  success.  Aurora,  the  ex 
citement  of  the  ceremony  over,  was  looking 
wretched;  and,  as  she  came  down  to  go  away, 
her  face  was  tragical.  I  could  feel  the  hypo 
critical  whisperings  of  my  guests.  Exasper- 
[215] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

ated,  I  turned,  only  to  stumble  on  Helen,  cry 
ing  as  if  her  heart  were  breaking.  My  new 
son-in-law  bade  me  good-bye  with  a  cold,  con 
descending  shake  of  the  hand,  and  in  a  voice 
that  made  me  long  to  strike  him.  It  set  me  to 
gnawing  again  on  what  Helen  heard  at  the 
dancing  class  three  years  ago.  When  every 
one  had  gone  my  wife  came  to  me,  her  eyes 
sparkling  with  anger. 

"Did  you  see  old  Mrs.  Kirkby  leave?"  she 
asked. 

"No — she  must  have  gone  without  speaking 
to  me,"  I  replied. 

"She  left  less  than  a  minute  after  Aurora 
and  Horton.  When  I  put  out  my  hand  to  her 
she  just  touched  it  with  the  tips  of  her  fingers, 
and  all  she  said  was,  'I  hope  we'll  run  across 
each  other  at  my  son's,  some  time.' ' 

"They'll  change  their  tune  when  I  get  after 
them!"  I  exclaimed. 

[216] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

"What  can  you  do?"  sneered  my  wife. 
"They  know  your  money  goes  to  Walter.  Be 
sides,  it's  all  your  fault." 

"My  fault?"  I  said,  in  disgust — everything 
is  always  my  fault,  according  to  my  wife. 

"Yes — it's  your  reputation,"  she  retorted, 
bitterly.  "It'll  take  two  generations  of  re 
spectability  to  live  it  down." 

I  left  the  room  abruptly.  The  injustice  of 
this  was  so  hideous  that  reply  was  impossible. 
After  all  my  sacrifices,  after  all  my  stupen 
dous  achievements,  after  lifting  my  family 
from  obscurity  to  the  highest  dignity — this 
was  my  reward!  Yes,  the  highest  dignity.  I 
know  how  they  sneer.  I  know  how  they  whis 
per  the  ugly  word  that  Helen  heard  at  the 
dancing  class.  I  see  it  in  their  eyes  when  I 
take  them  unawares.  But — they  cringe  be 
fore  me,  they  fear  me,  and  they  dare  not 
offend  me.  What  more  could  I  ask?  What 
[217] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

do  I  care  about  their  cowardly  mutterings 
which  they  dare  not  let  me  hear? 

In  the  upper  hall  I  came  upon  Helen,  sit 
ting  in  the  alcove,  sobbing.  "Poor  Aurora! 
Poor  Aurora!"  she  said,  when  I  paused  before 
her. 

"Poor  Aurora!"  I  retorted,  angrily.  "Your 
sister  is  married  to  one  of  the  richest  men  in 
New  York." 

"He  tried  to  kiss  me  as  they  were  leaving," 
she  went  on,  between  sobs,  "and  I  drew  away 
and  slapped  him.  When  Aurora  hugged  me 
she  whispered,  'I  don't  blame  you — I  detest 
him!'  Poor  Aurora!" 

I  went  into  my  apartrnent  and  slammed  the 
door.  I  knew  how  it  would  turn  out,  and  this 
hysterical  nonsense  infuriated  me. 

When  Aurora  and  Kirkby  came  back  from 
their  trip  through  the  South  and  burst  in  on 
us  at  lunch  [it  was  a  Sunday],  probably  I  was 
[218] 


44  /  came  upon  Helen,  sitting  in  the  alcove,  sobbing. 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

the  only  one  at  the  table  who  wasn't  surprised 
by  their  looks.  Helen,  I  knew,  had  been  ex 
pecting  Aurora  would  return  with  a  face  like 
the  last  scene  of  the  last  act  of  a  tragedy.  In 
stead  she  was  radiant,  beautifully  dressed,  and 
with  an  assurance  of  manner  that  was  im 
mensely  becoming  to  her — the  assurance  of  a 
woman  who  is  conscious  of  having  married 
brilliantly  and  is  determined  to  enjoy  her  good 
fortune  to  the  uttermost.  It  was  plain  that 
she  was  on  the  best  possible  terms  with  Kirkby. 
As  for  him,  he  looked  foolishly  happy  and  was 
obviously  completely  under  her  control,  as  I 
knew  he  would  be.  He  is  certainly  in  himself 
not  a  dignified  figure — short  and  fat  and  sal 
low  and  amazingly  ordinary -looking  for  a  man 
of  such  birth  and  breeding.  But  the  instant 
people  hear  who  he  is,  they  forget  his  face, 
figure,  and  mind.  In  this  world,  what  things 
really  are  is  not  important;  it's  altogether 
[  219  ] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

what  they  seem  to  be,  altogether  the  valuation 
agreed  upon.  I've  sometimes  watched  the 
children  at  their  games,  "playing"  that  pins 
and  rags  have  fantastic  big  values;  and  I've 
thought  how  ridiculous  it  was  to  smile  at  them 
and  keep  serious  faces  over  our  own  grown-up 
game  of  precisely  the  same  kind. 

Aurora  had  been  sending  home  the  news 
papers  of  every  town  in  which  they  had 
stopped,  so  we  had  a  pretty  good  idea  of  the 
ovation  they  had  received.  But  as  soon  as  she 
was  alone  with  us  she  went  over  it  all — and  we 
were  as  proud  as  was  she.  "I  don't  think  Hor- 
ton  liked  it  particularly,  but  there  wasn't  a 
place  where  they  didn't  know  more  about  me 
than  about  him,"  said  she.  "You  noticed, 
didn't  you,  that  the  papers  often  said,  'James 
Galloway's  daughter  and  her  husband'  ?  Hor- 
ton  was  awfully  funny  about  the  excitement 
over  us.  At  first  he  kept  up  the  pretence  with 
[220] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

me  that  he  thought  it  vulgar.  But  he  soon  cut 
that  out  and  fairly  devoured  the  newspapers. 
Of  course  we  didn't  drop  our  exclusiveness 
before  people — everywhere  they  talked  about 
how  anxious  we  were  to  avoid  notoriety. 
Whenever  the  reporters  came  near  us,  my! 
but  didn't  Horton  sit  on  them." 

She  made  only  one  criticism  of  him — and 
that  a  laughing  one.  "You  thought,"  said  she, 
"that  we  started  in  a  private  car.  Well,  we 
didn't.  When  I  got  to  Jersey  City  he  put  me 
into  a  stuffy  old  regular  Pullman  with  all  sorts 
of  people.  And  he  said,  with  the  grandest  air, 
'I  took  the  drawing-room,  as  I  thought  you'd 
like  privacy.'  I  saw  that  it  was  my  time  to 
assert  myself."  She  laughed.  "We  had  a  lit 
tle  talk,"  she  went  on,  "and  at  Philadelphia  he 
rushed  round  and  got  a  private  car." 

She  soon  brought  his  mother  to  terms.  Mrs. 
Kirkby  called  on  my  wife  three  days  after  they 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

got  back,  and  took  her  driving  the  following 
afternoon.  That  drive  is  one  of  the  important 
events  in  my  career.  It  marks  the  completion 
of  my  conquest  of  New  York.  Thinking  it 
over,  I  decided  to  double  Aurora's  portion  un 
der  my  will.  Next  to  Judson,  she  has  been  the 
most  useful  person  to  me — no,  not  next  to 
Judson,  but  without  exception.  I  should  have 
got  my  million-dollar  start  somehow,  if  I  had 
never  seen  him;  but  I  should  have  had  some 
difficulty  in  reaching  my  climax  if  I  had  not 
had  Aurora. 

My  flood-tide  of  luck  held  through  one  more 
event — the  settlement  with  Natalie. 

Naturally,  I  had  put  a  good  deal  of  thought 
upon  this  problem.  The  longer  I  considered 
it  the  more  clearly  I  realised  that  to  give  her 
anything  at  all  would  be  an  act  of  sheer  gen 
erosity,  perhaps  of  dangerous  generosity.  As 
I  have  said  before,  it  did  not  take  me  long  to 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

absolve  myself  from  the  impossible  letter  of 
my  promise.     If  I  had  been  capable  of  keep 
ing  a  promise  to  give  six  million  dollars — the 
sum  necessary  to  produce  "an  income  of  a 
quarter  of  a  million" — to  a  person  whom  it 
was  absolutely  vital  to  have  financially  de 
pendent  upon  me,  I  should  have  accomplished 
very  little  in  the  world.    At  first  my  decision 
to  keep  the  spirit  of  my  promise  by  giving 
"the  income  of  a  quarter  of  a  million"  seemed 
as  fair  as  it  was  liberal.    But  now  that  she  was 
safely  married  to  my  son,  I  began  to  see  that 
to  give  her  anything  would  be  to  strike  a  blow 
at   his   domestic   happiness,    and   that   would 
mean  striking  a  blow  at  her  own  happiness. 
It  could  not  fail  to  unsettle  her  mind  to  find 
herself  with  an  independent  income  of  ten  or 
twelve  thousand  a  year  in  addition  to  the  five 
or  six  thousand  she  already  had.    Nothing  else 
is  so  certain  to  destroy  a  husband's  influence 
[223] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

or  to  unfit  a  wife  contentedly  to  fill  her  proper 
place  in  the  family  as  for  her  to  be  financially 
independent. 

I  have  never  been  lacking  in  the  courage  to 
do  right,  no  matter  what  moral  quibble  or  per 
sonal  unpleasantness  has  stood  in  the  way.  I 
resolved  not  to  give  her  anything  outright, 
but,  instead,  to  provide  for  her  in  my  will— 
the  income  of  a  quarter  of  a  million,  to  be  hers 
for  life,  unless  Walter  should  die  and  she 
marry  again. 

There  now  remained  only  the  comparatively 
simple  matter  of  reconciling  her  to  this  ar 
rangement  when  she  was  expecting  at  once  to 
receive  the  equivalent  of  six  millions,  free  from 
conditions. 

A  weak  man  would  have  put  off  the  issue 
until  the  last  moment,  through  dislike  of  dis 
agreeable  scenes.  But  I  am  not  one  of  those 
who  aggravate  difficulties  by  postponing  them. 


THE    MASTER   ROGUE 

The  day  after  Walter  and  Natalie  sailed  from 
the  other  side  for  the  homeward  journey,  I 
sent  for  her  father.  "Matt,"  said  I,  "as  you 
probably  remember,  I  made  up  my  mind  to  do 
something  for  your  daughter  as  soon  as  she 
decided  to  become  my  daughter,  too.  I  finally 
got  round  to  it  this  morning.  I  thought  I'd 
tell  you  I  had  made  the  necessary  changes  in 
my  will." 

He  looked  at  me  narrowly,  with  an  expres 
sion  between  wonder  and  suspicion.  "I  don't 
understand,"  said  he. 

"I  promised  your  daughter  she  should  have 
the  income  of  a  quarter  of  a  million,"  I  re 
plied,  "and  this  morning  I  put  the  necessary 
provision  into  my  will." 

His  mouth  dropped  open.  He  wiped  his 
forehead  with  his  handkerchief  several  times. 
Then  all  of  a  sudden  he  flushed  a  violent  red 
and  struck  the  table  with  his  fist.  "Why, 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

damn  it,  Galloway,"  he  exclaimed,  "y°u  prom 
ised  her  you'd  settle  an  income  of  a  quarter  of 
a  million  on  her  at  once." 

I  looked  at  him  as  if  I  thought  him  crazy. 
"Where  did  you  get  that  notion?"  said  I.  "I 
never  heard  of  anything  so  preposterous.  Did 
you  think  I'd  gone  stark  mad?"  I  let  him  see 
that  I  was  getting  angry. 

"She  told  me  so — told  me  within  an  hour 
of  your  promising  it,"  he  replied.  "And,  by 
heavens,  you'll  stick  to  your  promise!"  He 
banged  the  table  with  his  fist  again. 

As  I  had  made  clear  my  intention — which 
was  my  only  purpose  for  that  first  interview— 
I  rose.  "I  permit  no  man  to  talk  to  me  in  that 
fashion,"  said  I;  "not  even  an  old  friend  who 
has  apparently  gone  out  of  his  mind.  I  do 
not  care  to  discuss  the  matter  further." 

I  went  into  my  inner  office  and  shut  him 
out.  I  knew  he  was  too  practical  a  man  ever 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

really  to  have  believed  that  I  intended  to  give 
his  daughter  any  such  stupendous  sum.  I  was 
certain  he  had  pretended  to  her  that  he  be 
lieved  it,  because  he  was  as  eager  for  her  to 
marry  Walter  as  I  was.  Assuming  that  he 
did  believe  it,  he  could  not  but  see  there  was 
nothing  but  disaster  for  him  in  offending  me. 
Therefore,  I  had  not  the  slightest  fear  that  he 
would  persist  in  his  anger;  I  knew  he  would 
calm  down,  would  at  most  cook  up  some 
scheme  for  trying  to  frighten  some  sort  of  a 
settlement  out  of  me,  and  would  break  the 
news  to  his  daughter  at  the  first  opportunity, 
so  that  he  might  caution  her  against  doing 
anything  foolish  on  impulse. 

I  heard  nothing  from  him  and  did  not  see 
him  again  until  we  all  went  down  to  the  dock 
to  meet  Walter  and  Natalie.  The  exchange 
of  greetings  between  the  two  families  was  far 
from  cordial,  her  father  and  I  barely  nod- 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

ding  at  each  other.  Natalie  and  her  mother 
and  Walter  went  up-town  together.  I  saw 
that  her  mother  could  hardly  wait  to  get 
her  alone  so  that  she  could  tell  her  and 
coach  her. 

I  did  not  permit  her  to  see  me  in  circum 
stances  in  which  she  could  have  talked  freely 
until  nearly  two  weeks  had  passed.  Then,  her 
friendly  manner  was  rather  strained,  but  she 
said  nothing  about  her  settlement— and,  of 
course,  I'm  not  the  one  to  poke  a  sleeping  dog. 
I  was  delighted  to  find  such  a  striking  con 
firmation  of  my  good  opinion  of  her.  Doubt 
less  she  doesn't  feel  especially  kindly  toward 
me,  but  she  has  given  no  sign — and  that  is  the 
important  fact.  A  less  intelligent  woman 
would  not  have  seen  how  useless  it  was  to  make 
a  fight,  or  would  have  given  way  to  her  tem 
per  just  for  the  pleasure  of  relieving  her  feel 
ings. 

[228] 


THE    MASTER   ROGUE 

To  these  two  triumphs  was  now  added  a 
third,  which,  in  its  many-sidedness,  gave  me 
more  satisfaction  than  either  of  the  others. 

It  came  in  the  course  of  my  campaign  to 
push  out  of  my  industrial  combination  the 
minor  elements  that  had  to  be  conciliated  when 
I  was  forming  it.  These  were  the  little  fel 
lows  who  were  the  chief  original  owners  of  the 
various  concerns  of  which  it  was  composed. 
They  were  no  longer  of  the  slightest  use  to  the 
industry ;  they  were  simply  clinging  to  it,  mere 
parasites  fattening  upon  my  brains.  I  felt 
that  the  time  had  come  for  shaking  them  off , 
and  forcing  them  to  give  up  their  holdings. 
I  needed  every  share  either  for  my  own  invest 
ment  purposes  or  to  bind  to  me  the  men  I  had 
put  in  direct  charge. 

Having  always  had  the  shaking  off  of  the 
parasites  in  mind,  I  had  never  let  the  combina 
tion  develop  its  full  earning  capacity.    As  my 
[229] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

first  move  toward  complete  possession,  I 
caused  it  to  be  given  out  that  I  was  privately 
much  disappointed  with  the  outlook  for  the 
industry  and  for  the  combination,  and  was 
thinking  of  disposing  of  my  holdings  quietly. 
When  this  rumour  that  I  was  about  to  "un 
load"  was  brought  to  my  attention,  I  refused 
either  to  confirm  or  to  deny  it.  I  followed  this 
with  some  slight  manipulations  of  rates,  prices, 
and  the  stock  market.  I  was,  of  course,  care 
ful  to  do  nothing  violent.  I  never  forget, 
nowadays,  that  I  am  one  of  the  bulwarks  of 
conservatism  and  stability;  I  and  my  fellow- 
occupants  of  the  field  of  high  finance  sternly 
repress  all  the  stock-raiding  moves  of  the  little 
fellows  who  are  struggling  to  get  together  in 
a  hurry  the  millions  that  would  enable  them  to 
break  into  our  company. 

My  moves  against  my  combination  sent  its 
stock  slowly  down.     The  minority  stockhold- 
[230] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

ers  unloaded — the  most  timid  upon  the  least 
timid;  then,  as  fear  spread  and  infected  the 
most  hopeful  among  them,  all  unloaded  upon 
the  public.  Finally,  I  gave  the  stock  a  hard 
blow  that  sent  it  tumbling — almost  openly  I 
sold  ten  thousand  shares,  and  the  sale  was  re 
garded  by  the  public  as  ominously  significant, 
because  it  was  known  that  I  no  longer  specu 
lated,  and  that  I  frowned  upon  speculation 
and  speculators.  When  I  had  gathered  in 
what  I  wanted,  at  bottom  prices,  I  came  to  the 
rescue,  put  up  the  price  with  a  strong  hand, 
denounced  those  who  had  attacked  it,  ex 
pressed  my  great  faith  in  the  future  of  the 
industry  and  of  my  combination — and  caught 
in  the  net,  along  with  a  lot  of  bona  fide  sellers, 
a  vast  shoal  of  wriggling  and  gasping  specu 
lators  in  "shorts." 

The  one  of  these  fish  that  peculiarly  inter 
ested  me  was — my  son  Walter.     I  knew  he 
[231] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

would  be  there,  and  had  known  it  since  the 
third  week  of  my  campaign.  As  I  have  never 
permitted  him  to  see  into  the  machinery  of  my 
financial  plant,  he  fancied  that  he  could  oper 
ate  without  my  finding  it  out.  But  one  of  my 
spies  had  brought  the  news  to  my  chief  brokers 
when  he  placed  his  second  selling  order.  I  was 
astonished  that  another  son  of  mine  had  gone 
into  such  low  and  stupid  and  even  dishonour 
able  business — yes,  dishonourable.  My  own 
speculative  operations  were  never  of  the  petty 
character  and  for  the  petty  purposes  that  con 
stitute  gambling.  I  sent  at  once  for  a  tran 
script  of  his  bank  account — a  man  in  my  posi 
tion  must  have  at  his  command  every  possible 
source  of  inside  information  and  I  have  made 
getting  at  bank  accounts  one  of  my  specialties. 
My  astonishment  became  amazement  when  I 
learned  that  four  cash  items  in  that  account, 
making  in  the  total  nearly  the  whole  of  his 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

gambling  capital,  were  four  checks  for  fifty 
thousand  dollars  each — from  his  mother! 

I  had  tried  many  times  to  get  hold  of  her 
bank  account;  but  she,  partly  through  craft, 
partly  through  the  perversity  of  luck,  did  busi 
ness  with  one  of  the  banks  into  whose  secrets 
I  had  never  been  able  to  penetrate.  I  under 
stand  at  a  glance  where  the  two  hundred  thou 
sand  had  come  from.  They  were  her  "com 
missions"  got  from  me  by  stealth,  by  juggling 
household  and  personal  accounts.  I  saw  that 
I  had  the  opportunity  to  give  Walter  a  vivid 
lesson,  to  get  back  my  money,  and  to  reduce 
my  wife  once  more  to  a  proper  complete  de 
pendence.  So  I  talked  business  with  Walter 
a  great  deal  during  those  three  months,  taking 
always  a  gloomy  view  of  prospects  of  my  com 
bination.  From  time  to  time  through  my 
spies  I  learned  that  he  was  eagerly  taking  ad 
vantage  of  these  "tips,"  was  plunging  deeper 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

and  deeper  in  his  betting  that  the  stock  of  my 
industrial  would  continue  to  fall.  When  I 
suddenly  put  up  the  price  of  the  stock,  he  was 
on  the  wrong  side  of  the  market  to  the  extent 
of  all  his  cash,  and,  like  scores  of  other  fools, 
far  beyond. 

I  went  home  to  lunch  on  the  day  I  hauled 
in  my  net,  for  I  wished  to  be  where  I  could 
brand  the  lesson  indelibly  upon  my  wife.  I 
had  ordered  my  men  to  give  out  my  strong 
statement  and  to  rocket  the  market  not  earlier 
than  a  quarter  past  one  and  not  later  than  half 
past — our  lunch  hour.  We  had  been  at  table 
about  ten  minutes  when  my  wife  was  called 
away  to  the  telephone.  She  was  in  high  good- 
humour  as  she  left  the  room;  indeed,  for  near 
ly  two  months  her  confident  hopes  of  profits 
that  would  give  her  a  million  or  more  in  her 
own  right  had  made  her  almost  youthful  in 
looks  and  in  spirits.  She  was  gone  a  long 
[234] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

time,  so  long  that  I  was  just  sending  for  her 
when  she  entered.  The  change  in  her  was 
shocking.  For  a  moment  I  was  alarmed  lest 
my  lesson  had  been  too  severe. 

Helen  started  up,  upsetting  her  chair  in  her 
fright  at  her  mother's  grey  old  face.  "Moth 
er!"  she  exclaimed,  "what  is  it?" 

Her  mother  tried  to  smile,  but  gave  me  a 
frightened,  cowed  glance.  "I — I — I'm  not 
well  all  of  a  sudden,"  she  said.  Then  she 
abruptly  left  the  room,  Helen  following  her. 

As  I  and  Ridley  and  Cress  were  smoking 
our  after-lunch  cigars,  she  sent  for  me.  I 
found  her  alone  in  her  darkened  sitting-room, 
lying  on  the  lounge.  She  asked  me  to  sit,  and 
then  she  began:  "I  wish  to  speak  to  you  about 
-about  Walter." 

"About  his  gambling?"  said  I. 

She  did  not  move  or  speak  for  fully  a  min 
ute.  It  was  so  dark  in  her  corner  that  I  could 
[235] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

not  see  her  distinctly;  besides,  when  I  spoke, 
she  had  quickly  covered  her  face.  At  length 
she  said:  "So  you  knew  all  the  time?  You  set 
this  trap  for " 

"Both  of  you,"  I  said,  as  I  saw  that  she  did 
not  intend  to  complete  her  sentence. 

Presently  she  went  on:  "Then  I  needn't  ex 
plain.  What  I  want  to  say  is — it's  all  my 
fault  that  Walter  did  it.  He's  down  at  your 
office  now.  He  didn't  have  a  chance  to  cover, 
the  stock  went  up  so  fast.  He's  lost  every 
thing,  and — but  I  suppose  it's  to  you  that  he's 
in  debt.  I'm  sick — sick  in  body,  and  sick  in 
mind.  I  give  up.  I've  made  my  last  fight. 
All  I  ask  is — don't  punish  him  for  what's  all 
my  fault." 

"Your  fault?"  said  I,  my  curiosity  roused, 

"I  wished  to  be  free,"  she  replied.  "I 
wished  them  to  be  free.  I  tried  through 
James  when  I  saw  how  certain  it  was  he  could 
[236] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

never  get  on  with  you.  Then  I  tried  through 
Walter  when  I  saw  how  you  were  crushing 
him  and  Natalie." 

"So  you  set  James  to  gambling?" 

"Yes — and  I'd  have  confessed,  but  there 
were  the  other  children  just  at  the  age  when 
they  most  needed  me  to  protect  them  from 
you.  And  —  I  —  I  —  couldn't.  Besides,  he 
begged  me  not  to — and  there  was  his  forg 
ery.  I  never  thought  he  had  it  in  him  to  do 
that." 

"But  he  was  your  son,"  said  I,  "and  he  had 
your  example.  He  knew  how  you  got  the 
money  you  gave  him 

"Oh,  don't!  don't  — please  don't!"  she 
wailed,  breaking  down  altogether.  "If  you 
could  see  yourself  as  others,  as  my  children 
and  I  see  you,  you'd  understand — No!  No! 
I  don't  mean  that.  Forgive  me — and  don't 
punish  Walter  for  my  sins."  She  burst  into 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

such  a  wild  passion  of  sobs  and  tears  that  I 
rang  for  her  maid,  and,  when  she  came,  left  to 
go  down-town. 

In  my  office  sat  Walter,  looking  deject 
ed,  but  far  from  the  sorry  figure  I  had  ex 
pected  to  see.  He  followed  me  into  my 
inside  room  and  stood  near  my  desk,  his  eyes 
down. 

"Well,  sir!"  said  I,  sternly.  In  fact,  I  was 
not  the  least  bit  angry;  my  complete  victory, 
and  the  recovery  of  my  control  over  my  fam 
ily  had  put  me  in  a  serene  frame  of  mind. 
"Your  mother  has  told  me  everything,"  I 
added,  not  wishing  him  to  irritate  me  with 
any  lies. 

"But  she  doesn't  know  everything,"  said 
he,  "I  risked  half  of  Natalie's  money — and — 
I — her  father  loaned  me  two  hundred  thou 
sand." 

I  frowned  still  more  heavily  to  conceal  the 
[238] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

satisfaction  this  news  gave  me.  "Did  Bradish 
know  what  you  were  going  to  do  with  the 
money?"  I  demanded. 

"Yes,"  replied  Walter,  in  a  voice  that  must 
have  come  out  of  a  desert-dry  throat.  "He — 
he  went  twenty  thousand  shares  short  on  his 
own  account." 

This  was  better  and  better.  For  the  first 
time  in  years  I  felt  like  laughing  aloud. 
"You  didn't  by  any  chance  draw  Kirkby  in?" 
I  asked,  with  a  pretence  of  sarcasm. 

Walter  shook  his  head.  "No — Kirkby 
doesn't  care  about  stocks." 

That  gave  me  a  chance  to  laugh.  But  it 
wasn't  a  kind  of  laughter  that  Walter  found 
contagious.  If  anything,  he  got  a  few  shades 
whiter.  "I've  known  you  were  in  this  for  two 
months  and  a  half,"  said  I.  "I  wished  to  give 
you  an  object-lesson  that  would  make  you  ap 
preciate  why  Kirkby  doesn't  care  about  stocks. 
[239] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

I've  known  every  move  you  made — we  who 
rule  down  here  always  know  about  the  small 
people,  about  the  idiots  like  you.  We  are 
rarely  able  to  fool  each  other;  what  chance 
have  you  and  your  kind  got?  I  told  you  all 
this,  and  now  I've  taught  it  to  you.  I've  not 
decided  on  your  punishment  yet.  But  one 
thing  I  can  tell  you:  if  you  ever  go  into  the 
market  again,  you  will  —  join  your  ex- 
brother!" 

He  was  silent  for  a  moment,  then  began: 
"Mother " 

"I  know  about  her,"  I  interrupted.  "I  wish 
to  hear  nothing  from  you." 

He  straightened  himself  and  looked  at  me 
for  the  first  time.  "She  telephoned  me  she 
was  going  to  take  all  the  blame,"  he  said,  reso 
lutely.  "It  isn't  true  that  she  led  me  into  this. 
I  started  with  my  own  money,  then  added 
Natalie's,  then  some  from  Mr.  Bradish,  and  it 
[240] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

wasn't  until  then  that  I  went  to  mother  and 
induced  her  to  risk  her  money." 

I  was  astonished  at  the  manliness  of  his  look 
and  tone — as  unlike  him  as  possible.  "Mar 
riage  seems  to  have  improved  you,"  said  I. 

"Yes — it's  Natalie,"  he  replied,  his  face  tak 
ing  on  the  foolish  look  a  man  gets  when  he  is 
under  the  thumb  of  some  woman.  "She's 
very  different  from  what  we  thought — or 
from  what  she  thought  herself.  She's  made 
me  into  a  new  sort  of  man." 

"A  stock  gambler?"  said  I. 

He  reddened,  but  knew  better  than  to  show 
his  teeth  at  me,  when  he  was,  if  possible,  more 
dependent  than  ever  before. 

"A  fine  story  you  tell  for  your  mother,"  I 
went  on;  "but  she  told  me  everything — about 
James,  too." 

"If  she  says  she  led  James  into  speculating, 
that  wasn't  so,  either,"  he  replied,  and  again 
[241] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

his  voice  was  honest.  "Jim  was  deep  in  the 
hole,  and  she  tried  to  help  him  out." 

"And  how  do  you  happen  to  know  so  much 
about  James  and  his  speculating?"  I  asked, 
sharply. 

His  eyes  dropped  and  he  began  to  shift 
from  leg  to  leg  in  his  old  despicable  fashion. 
"I — know,"  he  said,  doggedly. 

But  I  wasn't  interested  in  James — or,  for 
that  matter,  in  the  comparative  guilt  of  Wal 
ter  and  his  mother.  I  had  no  more  time  to 
give  to  the  affair.  I  sent  Walter  away,  after 
repeating  my  warning  as  to  the  consequences 
of  another  lapse,  and  then  I  gave  my  whole 
attention  to  business — to  punishing  the  other 
wretched  "shorts"  and  to  putting  on  full 
steam  throughout  my  combination,  mine  now 
in  its  entirety  and  therefore  ready  for  the  ut 
most  development  of  its  earning  power. 

Six    months    later — that    is,    last    week — I 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

doubled  the  outstanding  capital  stock  and  at 
the  same  time  increased  the  dividend  from  five 
per  cent,  to  six.  It  is  now  earning  forty-two 
per  cent,  on  my  total  actual  investment — a 
satisfactory  property,  quite  up  to  my  expec 
tations. 

My  wife  has  gone  abroad  with  Helen. 
Poor  woman!  She  has  never  been  the  same 
since  her  dream  collapsed.  However,  she  no 
longer  irritates  or  opposes  me.  And  Natalie 
is  the  most  satisfactory  of  daughters-in-law, 
and  Walter  the  most  docile  of  sons.  As  for 
Aurora,  I  have  been  unexpectedly  able  to  get 
a  hold  upon  her,  and  through  her  upon  Kirk- 
by.  She  rules  him  in  every  matter  except  one. 
He  keeps  her  on  short,  absurdly  short,  sup 
plies  for  the  household  and  her  personal  ex 
penses.  "When  I  found  that  he  carried  a 
change  purse,  I  had  a  foreboding,"  said  she 
to  me  the  other  day.  "And  when  I  saw  how 
[243] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

he  looked  as  he  opened  it,  took  a  nickel  out 
and  closed  it,  I  knew  what  I  had  to  look  for 
ward  to."  I  have  raised  her  hopes  for  a  large 
allowance  from  me  in  the  near  future,  and  a 
fortune  under  my  will.  Presently,  through 
my  efforts,  combined  with  hers,  I  think  I  shall 
have  Kirkby  for  a  colossal  undertaking  I  am 
working  out. 

Altogether,  my  affairs  are  in  a  thoroughly 
satisfactory  condition.  If  it  weren't  for  old 
age,  and  certain  pains  at  times  in  the  back  of 
my  head — though  they  may  be  largely  imag 
inary.  Then  there  is  the  matter  of  sleep.  I 
haven't  had  a  night's  sleep  in  seven  years,  and 
for  the  last  year  I  have  had  only  three  hours', 
pieced  out  with  a  nap  in  my  carriage  on  the 
way  up-town. 

"Uneasy  lies  the  head  that  wears  a  crown." 
But — it  wears  a  crown! 


VI 

When  I  began  to  build  my  palace  in  New 
York  City,  in  Fifth  Avenue  near  Fifty- 
ninth  Street,  I  intended  it  to  be  the  seat  of 
my  family  for  many  generations.  My  archi 
tect  obeyed  my  orders  and  planned  the  most 
imposing  residence  in  the  city;  but,  before 
it  was  finished — indeed,  before  we  had  any 
considerable  amount  of  furniture  collected 
for  it — no  less  than  seven  palaces  were  under 
way,  each  excelling  mine  in  every  respect — 
in  extent,  in  costliness  of  site  and  structure, 
in  taste,  and  in  spaciousness  of  interior  ar 
rangement.  This  was  mortifying,  for  it 
warned  me  that  within  a  few  years  my  pal 
ace  would  be  completely,  even  absurdly,  in 
eclipse,  for  it  would  stand  among  towering 
[245] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

flat-houses  and  hotels — a  second-class  neigh 
bourhood. 

But,  irritating  and  expensive  though  the 
lesson  was,  it  was  of  inestimable  value  to  me 
with  my  ability  to  see  and  to  profit.  It  taught 
me  my  own  ignorance  and  so  set  me  to  edu 
cating  myself  in  matters  most  important  to 
the  dignity  of  my  family  line.  Also  it  taught 
me  how  I  was  underestimating  New  York  and 
its  expansive  power,  and  therefore  the  expan 
sive  power  of  the  whole  country.  I  began  to 
acquire  large  amounts  of  real  estate  which 
have  already  vindicated  my  judgment;  and  I 
made  bolder  and  more  sweeping  moves  in  my 
industrial  and  railway  developments — those 
moves  that  have  frightened  many  of  my  asso 
ciates.  Naturally,  to  the  short-sighted,  the 
far-sighted  seem  visionary.  A  man  may  stake 
his  soul,  or  even  his  life,  on  something  beyond 
his  vision,  and  therefore,  to  him,  visionary; 
[246] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

but  he  won't  stake  enough  of  his  money  in  it 
seriously  to  impair  his  fortune  if  he  loses. 
That's  why  large  success  is  only  for  the  far- 
sighted. 

While  I  was  debating  the  palace  problem, 
along  came  the  craze  for  country  establish 
ments  near  New  York — palaces  set  in  the 
midst  of  parks.  I  was  suspicious  of  this  ap 
parently  serious  movement  among  the  people 
of  my  class,  for  I  knew  that  at  bottom  we 
Americans  of  all  classes  are  a  show-off  people 
—that  is,  are  human.  Only  the  city  can  fur 
nish  the  crowd  we  want  as  a  background  for 
our  prosperity  and  as  spectators  of  it;  we  are 
not  content  with  the  gaping  of  a  few  undis- 
criminating,  dull  hayseeds.  We  like  intelli 
gent  gaping — the  kind  that  can  come  pretty 
near  to  putting  the  price-marks  on  houses, 
jewels,  and  dresses.  We'd  put  them  there 
ourselves,  even  the  most  "refined"  of  us,  if 
[247] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

custom,  made,  by  the  way,  by  the  poor  people 
with  their  so-called  culture,  did  not  forbid  it. 
So,  though  I  was  too  good  a  judge  of  business 
matters  to  have  much  faith  in  the  country- 
house  movement,  I  bought  "Ocean  Farm"  and 
planned  my  house  there  on  a  vast  scale.  It  is, 
as  a  little  study  of  it  will  reveal,  ingeniously 
arranged,  so  that,  if  the  country-seat  fash 
ion  shall  ever  revive,  it  can  be  expanded 
without  upsetting  proportions,  and  splendid 
improvements  can  easily  be  made  in  the 
handsome,  five-hundred-acre  park  which  sur 
rounds  it. 

But  just  as  I  was  taking  up  the  problem  of 
an  establishment  for  Walter,  the  shrewdness 
of  my  doubts  about  the  country  began  to  ap 
pear.  I  had  been  investing  in  real  estate  in 
and  near  upper  Fifth  Avenue;  I  determined 
to  build  myself  a  new  palace  there  that  would 
be  monumental.  It  will  never  be  possible  for 
[248] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

a  private  establishment  in  New  York  to  cover 
more  surface  than  a  block,  so  I  fixed  on  and 

bought  the   entire   block   between  and 

-  Streets  and  Fifth  and  Madison  Avenues. 
Then  I  ordered  my  architect  to  drop  every 
thing  else  and  spend  a  year  abroad  in  careful 
study  of  the  great  houses  of  Europe,  both  old 
and  new.  This  detailing  of  a  distinguished 
architect  for  a  year  might  seem  to  be  an  ex 
travagance;  in  fact,  it  was  one  of  those  wise 
economies  which  are  peculiarly  characteristic 
of  me. 

Money  spent  upon  getting  the  best  possible 
in  the  best  possible  way  is  never  extravagance. 
People  incapable  of  thinking  in  large  sums  do 
not  see  that  to  lay  out  five  millions  econom 
ically  one  must  adopt  methods  proportionately 
broader  than  those  one  would  use  in  laying 
out  five  thousand  or  five  hundred  thousand  to 
the  best  advantage.  It  has  cost  me  hundreds 
[249] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

of  thousands,  perhaps  millions,  to  learn  that 
lesson. 

I  sent  a  man  from  my  office  along  with  my 
architect  to  act  as  an  auditor  for  his  expense 
accounts,  and  to  see  that  he  did  his  work  con 
scientiously  and  did  not  use  my  money  and 
my  purchase  of  his  time  in  junketing  "au 
grand  prince."  In  addition  to  planning  the 
palace,  he  was  to  settle  upon  interior  decora 
tions  and  to  buy  pictures,  tapestries,  carvings, 
furniture,  etc.,  etc. — of  course,  making  no  im 
portant  purchases  without  consulting  me  by 
cable.  I  believe  he  never  did  a  harder  year's 
work  in  his  life — and  I'm  not  easily  convinced 
as  to  what  I  haven't  seen  with  my  own  eyes. 

When  he  came  home  and  submitted  the  re 
sults  of  his  tour,  I  myself  took  them  abroad 
and  went  over  them  with  the  authorities  on 
architecture  and  decoration  in  Paris.  It  was 
two  years  before  the  final  plan  was  ready  for 
[250] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

execution.  In  those  two  years  I  had  learned 
much — so  much  that  my  palace  near  Fifty- 
ninth  Street,  which  I  had  imagined  the  acme 
of  art  and  splendour  when  I  accepted  its  final 
plans,  had  become  to  me  an  intolerable  flaunt 
ing  of  ignorance  and  tawdriness.  I  had  in 
tended  still  to  retain  it  as  the  hereditary  resi 
dence  for  the  heirs-apparent  of  my  line,  and, 
when  they  should  succeed  to  the  headship  of 
the  family,  the  so-to-speak  dowager-residence. 
But  my  education  had  made  this  impossible. 
I  was  impatient  for  the  moment  to  arrive 
when  I  could  sell  it,  or  tear  it  down,  and  put 
in  place  of  it  a  flat -house  for  people  of  mod 
erate  wealth,  or  a  first-class  hotel. 

Three  years  and  a  half  from  the  sailing  of 
my  architect  in  quest  of  ideas  I  took  possession 
of  the  completed  palace.  First  and  last  I  had 
spent  nearly  five  millions  and  a  half  upon  it; 
I  was  well  content  with  the  result.  Nor  has 
[251] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

the  envious  chatter  of  alleged  critics  in  this 
country  disturbed  me.  There  will  be  scores  of 
houses  as  costly,  and  many  as  imposing,  before 
fifty  years  have  passed;  but,  until  there  is  a 
revolution  in  the  art  of  building,  there  will  be 
none  more  dignified,  more  conspicuous,  or 
more  creditable.  I  flatter  myself  that,  as 
money  is  spent,  I  got  at  least  two  dollars  of 
value  for  every  dollar  I  paid  out.  I  wished 
to  build  for  the  centuries,  and  I  am  confident 
that  I  have  accomplished  my  purpose.  Only 
an  earthquake  or  a  rain  of  ruin  from  the  sky 
or  a  flood  of  riot  can  overthrow  my  handiwork. 
But  to  go  back  a  little.  Just  as  we  were 
about  to  move,  my  wife  and  Ridley  died  within 
a  few  days  of  each  other.  At  first  these  deaths 
were  a  severe  shock  to  me,  as,  aside  from  the 
sad,  yet  after  all  inevitable,  parting,  there  wras 
the  prospect  of  the  complete  disarrangement 
of  my  domestic  plans,  and  at  a  highly  incon- 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

venient  moment.  But,  thanks  to  my  unfail 
ing  luck,  my  fears  proved  groundless.  Helen 
came  splendidly  to  the  rescue  and  displayed  at 
once  an  executive  ability  that  more  than  filled 
the  gap.  My  plans  for  the  change  of  resi 
dence,  for  the  expansion  of  the  establishment, 
and  for  my  own  comfort — everything  went 
forward  smoothly,  far  more  smoothly  than  I, 
had  hoped  when  my  wife  and  Ridley  were 
alive  and  part  of  my  calculation. 

At  first  blush  it  may  seem  rather  startling, 
but  I  missed  poor  old  Ridley  far  more  than  I 
missed  my  wife.  A  moment's  consideration, 
however,  will  show  that  this  was  neither 
strange  nor  unnatural.  For  twenty  years  he 
was  my  constant  companion  whenever  I  was 
not  at  work  down-town.  During  those  twenty 
years  I  had  seen  little  of  my  wife  except  in  the 
presence  of  others,  usually  some  of  them  not 
members  of  my  family.  Whenever  we  were 
[253] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

alone,  it  was  for  the  despatch  of  more  or  less 
disagreeable  business.  She  had  her  staff  of 
servants,  I  mine;  she  had  her  interests,  I 
mine.  Wherever  our  interests  met,  they 
clashed. 

I  think  she  was  a  thoroughly  unhappy 
woman — as  every  woman  must  be  who  does 
not  keep  to  the  privacy  and  peace  of  the  home. 
I  looked  at  her  after  she  had  been  dead  a  few 
hours,  and  was  impressed  by  the  unusualness 
of  the  tranquillity  of  her  face.  It  vividly  re 
called  her  in  the  days  when  we  lived  in  the 
little  house  in  the  side  street  away  down-town 
and  talked  over  our  business  and  domestic 
affairs  every  night  before  going  to  sleep. 
After  the  first  few  years  and  until  almost  the 
end  she  was  a  great  trial  to  me.  But  I  have 
no  resentment.  Indeed,  now  that  she  is  gone 
I  feel  inclined  to  concede  that  she  was  not  so 
much  to  blame  as  are  these  absurd  social  con- 
[254] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

ditions  that  tempt  women  to  yield  to  their 
natural  folly  and  give  them  power  to  harass 
and  hamper  men. 

I'm  inclined  to  despair  of  marriage,  at  least 
so  far  as  we  of  the  upper  and  dominating,  and 
example-setting,  class  are  concerned.  With  us 
what  basis  of  common  interest  is  there  left  be 
tween  husband  and  wife?  He  has  his  large 
business  affairs  which  wholly  absorb  him, 
which  do  not  interest  her — indeed,  which  he 
would  on  no  account  permit  her  small,  unin 
formed  mind  to  meddle  in.  With  all  his  en 
ergy  and  all  his  intelligence  enlisted  elsewhere, 
what  time  or  interest  has  he  for  home  and 
wife?  And  to  her  he  seems  dull,  an  infliction 
and  a  bore.  Nor  has  she  any  interest  at  home 
— governesses,  a  housekeeper,  an  army  of  ser 
vants  do  her  work  for  her.  So  far  as  I  can 
see,  except  as  a  means  whereby  a  woman  may 
disport  herself  in  mischief -breeding  luxury 
[255] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

and  laziness,  marriage  has  no  rational  excuse 
for  persisting. 

It  was  with  genuine  regret  that  I  was  com 
pelled  to  deny  my  wife's  last  request.  I  say 
"deny,"  but  I  was,  of  course,  far  too  generous 
and  considerate  to  torment  her  in  her  last  mo 
ments.  When  she  made  up  her  mind  that  the 
doctors  and  nurses  were  deceiving  her  and 
that  she  wasn't  to  get  well,  she  asked  for  me. 
When  we  were  alone,  she  said:  "James,  I  wish 
to  see  our  son — I  wish  you  to  send  for  him." 

I  did  not  pretend  to  misunderstand  her.  I 
knew  she  meant  James.  As  she  was  very 
feeble,  and  barely  conscious,  she  was  in  no 
condition  to  decide  for  herself.  It  was  a  time 
for  me  to  be  gentle;  but  there  is  never  a  time 
for  weakness.  "Yes,"  I  said,  humouring  her, 
"I  will  have  him  sent  for." 

"I  wish  you  to  send  for  him,  James,"  she 
insisted;  "send  right  away." 
[256] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

"Very  well,"  said  I,  "I'll  send  for  him." 
And  I  rose  as  if  to  obey. 

"Don't  go  just  yet/'  she  went  on;  "there's 
something  more." 

I  sat  in  silence  so  long  that  I  began  to  think 
she  was  asleep  or  unconscious.  But  finally  she 
spoke:  "I  got  Walter's  permission  this  morn 
ing.  James,  if  I  tell  you  of  a  great  wrong  he 
has  done,  a  very  great  wrong,  will  you  for 
give  him  for  my  sake?" 

I  thought  over  her  request.  Finally  I  said, 
"Yes." 

"Look  at  me,"  she  went  on.  Our  eyes  met. 
"Say  it  again." 

"Yes,  I  will  forgive  him,"  I  said,  and  I 
meant  it — unless  the  wrong  should  prove  to  be 
one  of  those  acts  for  which  forgiveness  is  im 
possible. 

She  turned  her  face  away,  then  said,  slowly, 
each  word  coming  with  an  effort:  "It  wasn't 
[257] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

James  who  forged  your  name.  It  was  Wal 
ter." 

I  felt  enormously  relieved,  for,  while  I 
shouldn't  have  hesitated  to  break  my  promise 
had  it  been  wise  to  do  so,  I  am  a  man  who  holds 
his  word  sacred  even  to  his  own  hurt,  provided 
it  is  not  also  to  the  jeopardy  of  vital  affairs. 
"I'm  not  surprised,"  said  I.  "It  is  like  Walter 
to  hide  behind  any  one  foolish  enough  to  shield 
him." 

"No — he's  not  that  way  any  more,"  she 
pleaded,  her  passion  for  shielding  her  children 
from  my  justice  as  strong  as  ever.  "He  told 
me  long  ago — when  you  caught  him  in  that 
speculation.  And  we  talked  it  over  and  then 
we  went  to  see  James,  and  he  insisted  that  we 
shouldn't  tell  you." 

"Why?"  I  asked.  "What  reason  did  he 
give?" 

"He  said  he  had  made  his  life  and  you  yours, 
[258] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

and  that  he  knew  you  didn't  want  to  be  dis 
turbed  any  more  than  he  did." 

"He  was  right,"  said  I. 

The  forgery  has  long  ceased  to  be  impor 
tant.  James  and  his  wife,  with  their  wholly 
different  ideas  and  methods,  could  not  possibly 
be  remoulded  now  to  my  purposes.  I  have 
educated  Walter  and  Natalie  to  the  headship 
of  the  family;  I've  neither  time  nor  inclina 
tion  to  take  up  a  couple  of  strangers  and 
make  an  arduous  and  extremely  dubious  ex 
periment. 

"So,"  my  wife  went  on,  "I  ask  you  to  send 
for  James.  I  wish  to  see  him  restored  to  what 
is  rightfully  his  before  I  die." 

"I'll  send  for  him,"  said  I.  "It  may  take  a 
little  time,  as  he  is  out  of  town.  But  be  pa 
tient,  and  I'll  send  for  him." 

I  learned  that  I  had  spoken  more  truthfully 
than  I  knew.  He  was  camping  with  his  wife 
[259] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

in  the  depths  of  the  Adirondacks,  several  days 
away  from  the  mails.  The  next  day  I  told 
Cress  to  write  him  a  letter  saying  I'd  interpose 
no  objection  if  he  should  try  to  see  his  mother, 
who  was  ill.  I  ordered  Cress  to  hold  the  letter 
until  the  following  day.  But  that  night  she 
died.  She  was  not  fully  conscious  again  after 
her  exhausting  talk  with  me. 

The  evening  of  the  day  of  the  funeral  I 
took  Walter  into  my  sitting-room  and  re 
peated  to  him  what  his  mother  had  told  me. 
"But,"  said  I,  "because  I  promised  her,  I  for 
give  you.  It  would  have  been  more  manly 
had  you  confessed  to  me,  but  I've  learned  not 
to  expect  the  impossible." 

"All  I  ask,  sir,"  said  he,  "is  that  you  never 
let  Natalie  know.  She'd  despise  me — she'd 
leave  me." 

I  could  not  restrain  a  smile  at  this  absurd 
exaggeration — at  this  delusion  of  vanity  that 
[260] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

he  was  the  important  factor  with  Natalie,  and 
not  I  and  my  property. 

"You  can  say,"  he  went  on,  "that  you  have 
changed  your  mind,  and  you  needn't  give  a 
reason.  And  James  can  take  my  place,  and, 
believe  me,  she'll  not  be  at  all  surprised." 

I  had  no  difficulty  in  believing  him,  for 
Natalie's  experience  with  her  dowry  had  no 
doubt  put  her  in  the  proper  frame  of  mind  for 
any  further  change  of  plan  I  might  happen  to 
make.  I  patted  him  on  the  shoulder.  "I 
promised  your  mother  I'd  forgive  you,"  said 
I,  "and  I'll  fulfil  my  promise  to  the  letter. 
James  is  best  off  where  he  is,  and,  if  you  con 
tinue  to  try  to  please,  your  prospects  shall  re 
main  as  they  are." 

He  was  overcome  with  gratitude  and  relief. 
But  he  was  presently  trying  to  look  sorry.  "I 
feel  ashamed  of  myself,"  he  said. 

"You  can  afford  to,"  I  replied,  drily.  "It 
[261] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

will  cost  you  nothing.  But  I  venture  to  sug 
gest  that  instead  of  pretending  to  quarrel  with 
good  fortune,  you  would  better  be  planning  to 
deserve  it." 

The  two  deaths — my  wife's  and  Ridley's — 
coming  so  close  together  made  a  profoundly 
disagreeable  impression  upon  me.  My  abhor 
rence  of  "the  end,"  to  which  I  have  referred 
several  times,  then  definitely  became  a  mono 
mania  with  me.  The  thought  of  "the  end" 
began  to  thrust  itself  upon  me  daily — or, 
rather,  nightly.  I  have  never  been  a  happy 
man.  Added  to  my  natural  incessant  restless 
ness,  which  always  characterises  a  creative  in 
tellect,  and  which  has  kept  me  as  well  as 
every  one  around  me  in  a  state  of  irritation, 
there  is  in  me  an  absolute  incapacity  to  live  in 
the  present ;  and  to  be  happy,  I  have  long  since 
seen,  one  must  live  in  the  present.  Occasion 
ally,  when  my  fame  or  my  power  or  my  wealth 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

has  been  suddenly  and  vividly  revealed  to  me 
in  moments  of  triumph,  I  have  lived  in  the 
present  for  a  little  while.  But  soon  the  future, 
its  projects,  its  duties,  its  possibilities,  have 
stretched  me  on  the  rack  again.  As  for  the 
much-talked-of  happiness  of  anticipation,  that 
is  possible  only  to  children  and  childish  per 
sons.  When  the  battle  is  on — and  when  has 
the  battle  not  been  on  with  me  ? — the  general  is 
too  busy  to  indulge  in  any  anticipations  of 
victory.  He  has  hardly  time  even  for  anxieties 
about  defeat. 

I  neglected  to  note,  in  its  proper  order,  that 
my  wife  willed  all  her  jewels — a  value  of  eight 
hundred  thousand  dollars — to  James.  I  con 
sulted  my  lawyer  and  found  that  through 
carelessness,  or,  rather,  through  ignorance  of 
the  law,  I  had  given  her  a  legal  title  to  them, 
a  legal  right  to  dispose  of  them  by  will.  There 
was  nothing  for  it  but  to  make  the  best  bar- 
[263] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

gain  I  could.  After  some  roundabout  nego 
tiations  James  declined  my  proposal  that  he 
accept  a  cash  valuation  on  fair  appraisement. 
He  then  indulged  his  passion  for  theatrical 
sentimentality  and  declined  the  legacy  beyond 
a  few  trinkets  worth  hardly  a  thousand  dollars, 
I  should  say,  which  had  belonged  to  his  mother 
in  her  girlhood  and  in  the  first  years  of  her 
married  life.  These  Helen  persuaded  him  to 
divide  with  her.  Aurora  at  first  insisted  on 
having  part  of  the  jewels;  but  I  wished  to 
keep  them  all  for  the  direct  succession,  and  so 
induced  her  to  take  two  hundred  thousand 
dollars  for  her  claim — agreeing  not  to  sub 
tract  it  from  her  share  under  my  will.  As  she 
is  a  satisfactory  child,  I  consider  the  promise 
binding. 

I  sold  my  old  palace  for  two  and  a  quarter 
millions  to  a  parvenu,  dazzled  by  an  accidental 
half  a  dozen  millions  and  impatient  to  show 
[264] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

them  off  before  they  vanished.  While  effect 
ing  the  merger  of  my  three  railways,  I  made 
quadruple  the  balance  of  the  cost  of  my  new 
palace,  by  extinguishing  one  minority  interest 
at  forty-seven  and  creating  another  at  one 
hundred  and  two.  Given  the  capital,  it  is  in 
comparably  harder  to  build  a  palace  than  to 
make  a  score  of  millions.  A  very  crude  sort 
of  man  may  get  rich,  but  refinement  and  cul 
ture  and  taste  and  custom  of  wealth  and  a  sense 
of  the  difference  between  dignity  and  ostenta 
tion  are  required  to  enable  a  man  to  demon 
strate  his  fitness  to  possess  wealth.  I  cannot 
expect  my  envious  contemporaries  publicly  to 
admit  that  I  have  demonstrated  my  fitness. 
But — future  generations  will  vindicate  me  in 
this  as  in  other  respects. 

I  kept  a  sharp  look-out  for  a  house  for  Wal 
ter — or,  rather,   for  the  hereditary  principal 
heir  of  my  line.     Among  the  minority  stock- 
[265] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

holders  in  one  of  my  three  railways  was  Ed 
ward  Haverford,  grandson  of  that  Haverford 
who  originated  the  secret  freight  rebate.  By 
the  very  timid  use  of  it  natural  in  a  beginner, 
and  at  a  time  when  railway  transportation 
was  in  its  infancy,  he  had  accumulated  several 
millions.  I  doubt  if  he  had  any  great  amount 
of  brains.  I  know  that  his  grandson  is  as 
stupid  as  he  is  stingy.  But  he  had  a  beautiful 
little  palace  in  East  Seventieth  Street,  near 
Fifth  Avenue — an  ideal  home  for  a  gentleman 
with  expectations,  the  scion  of  a  great  family. 
In  the  "squeeze"  incident  to  my  extinguishing 
the  minority  existing  before  the  merger,  Hav 
erford  lost  his  fortune  and  was  glad  to  dispose 
of  his  house  to  me  for  a  million  in  cash.  I 
established  Walter  and  Natalie  there  and  fixed 
their  allowance  from  me  at  eight  thousand  a 
month.  This  is  enough  to  enable  them  to  live 
in  easy  circumstances  with  an  occasional  grant 
[266] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

from  me — a  happy  compromise  between  an  in 
dependence  that  would  be  dangerous  and  a 
dependence  that  would,  in  an  heir-apparent, 
seem  undignified. 

I  have  decided  not  to  take  them  in  to  live 
with  me  when  Helen  is  married.  I  could  not 
endure  the  daily  espionage  of  those  who  are 
to  succeed  me.  They  could  not  conceal  from 
my  eyes  their  impatience  for  me  to  be  gone.  I 
shall  keep  them  waiting  many  a  year — seventy 
is  not  old  for  any  man.  For  a  man  of  my 
natural  strength  it  is  merely  that  advanced 
period  of  middle  life  when  one  must  make  his 
health  his  prime  concern. 

No,  Helen  shall  stay  on  with  me. 

Her  case  is  another  instance  of  the  folly  of 
anticipating  trouble.  From  the  day  she  came 
to  me  with  her  confession  that  she  had  defied 
me  by  going  to  James  at  the  crisis  of  his  ill 
ness,  I  had  been  looking  forward  to  a  sharp 
[  267  ] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

collision  with  her.  Naturally,  I  assumed  that 
the  trouble  would  come  over  her  marriage.  I 
pictured  her  falling  in  love  with  some  nobody 
with  nothing  and  giving  me  great  anxiety  if 
not  humiliation ;  and,  while  my  wife  had  a  cer 
tain  amount  of  capacity  in  social  matters,  espe 
cially  in  the  last  two  or  three  years  of  her  life, 
I  appreciated  that  she  had  many  serious  short 
comings.  Intellectually,  she  was  so  far  infe 
rior  to  Helen  that  I  could  not  but  fear  the 
worst.  I  had  been,  therefore,  impatient  for 
her  to  find  a  suitable  husband  for  Helen,  and 
so  put  an  end  to  the  peril  of  a  severe  blow  to 
my  pride  and  plans.  As  I  had  a  peculiar 
affection  for  Helen,  it  would  have  cut  me  to 
the  quick  had  she  married  beneath  her. 

I  was  luckier  than  I  hoped.     My  wife  dis 
appointed  me  by  rising  to  the  occasion.     Old 
Mrs.    Kirkby,   having    accepted   the   alliance 
with  my  family,  proceeded  to  make  the  best  of 
[268] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

it.  She  took  up  my  wife  and  Helen  and  put 
them  in  her  own  set — it  seems  to  me  the  dullest 
in  New  York,  if  not  in  the  world,  but  the  most 
envied,  and  is  beyond  question  composed  of 
gentlefolk  of  the  true  patrician  type.  As  my 
wife  was  careful  that  Helen  should  meet  no 
one  outside  that  set,  and  should  go  nowhere 
without  herself  or  Mrs.  Kirkby  in  watchful 
attendance,  Helen  was  completely  safeguard 
ed  against  acquaintance,  however  slight,  with 
any  man  of  the  wrong  kind.  So  assiduous  and 
careful  was  my  wife — thanks,  no  doubt,  to 
sagacious  Mrs.  Kirkby's  teaching  and  exam 
ple! — that  she  even  never  permitted  Helen  to 
go  either  to  Walter's  or  to  Aurora's  when 
there  were  to  be  guests,  without  first  making  a 
study  of  the  list.  This  was  a  highly  necessary 
precaution,  for  both  Natalie  and  Aurora,  be 
ing  safely  married,  admitted  to  their  houses 
many  persons  who  were  all  very  well  for  pur- 
[269] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

poses  of  amusement,  but  not  their  social  equals 
in  the  sense  of  eligibility  to  admission  into  an 
upper-class  family  with  a  position  to  maintain. 
As  everybody  knows,  the  Kuypers  are  one 
of  the  best  families  in  New  York.  When  the 
original  Kirkby  was  clerk  in  a  Whitehall 
grocery  before  the  Revolutionary  War,  a 
Kuyper  kept  the  grocery — an  eminently  re 
spectable  business  in  those  simple  days.  He 
had  inherited  it  from  his  grandfather,  and  also 
a  farm  near  where  the  Tombs  prison  now 
stands.  The  Kuypers  have  been  people  of 
means  and  of  social  and  political  and  military 
and  naval  distinction  for  a  century.  About  a 
year  before  my  wife  died  she  and  Mrs.  Kirk 
by  fixed  upon  Delamotte  Kuyper  for  Helen; 
and,  although  he  was  not  rich,  I  approved 
their  selection.  With  his  comfortable  income 
and  what  he  will  inherit  and  what  I  intend  to 
leave  Helen,  they  will  be  well  established.  In 
[270] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

addition  to  family  and  position  and  rank  as 
the  eldest  son  in  the  direct  line,  he  has  the  ad 
vantages  of  being  a  handsome  fellow,  a  grad 
uate  of  Groton,  a  student  at  Harvard  and  at 
Oxford,  and  one  of  those  men  who  do  all  sorts 
of  gentlemen's  pastimes  surpassingly  well. 
My  wife  was  discreet  in  concealing  her  purpose 
from  Helen — so  discreet  that,  when  the  climax 
came,  the  poor  child  expected  us  to  oppose  the 
marriage.  She  had  heard  me  and  her  mother 
comment  often  on  Delamotte's  comparatively 
small  fortune  and  expectations — large  for  an 
old  New  York  family,  but  a  mere  nothing 
among  the  fortunes  of  us  newer  and  more 
splendid  aristocrats.  A  yachting  trip  in  the 
Mediterranean,  and  the  business  was  done. 

The  yachting  trip  was  my  suggestion. 

I  don't  recall  ever  having  had  a  more  agree 
able  sensation  than  when  she  came  to  me  just 
after  her  return — poor  Ridley  was  in  the 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

room,  I  remember.  She  threw  her  arms  round 
my  neck  and  said:  "You  dear  splendid  old 
father!  How  happy  you  have  made  me. 
There  never  was  a  luckier  girl  than  I!" 

That  added  half  a  million  to  what  I'm  leav 
ing  her  in  my  will. 

What  a  pity,  what  a  shame  that  she's  a 
woman!  She  has  my  brains.  She  has  my 
courage.  She  has  a  noble  character — yes,  I 
admire  even  her  enthusiasms  and  sentimentali 
ties.  She  has  all  the  qualifications  for  the  suc 
cession  except  one.  There  fate  cheated  me. 

I  have  a  sick  feeling  every  time  I  think 
what  might  have  happened  had  James  re 
mained  in  my  family  and  been  my  principal 
heir.  There's  not  the  slightest  doubt  that  he 
would  have  upset  all  my  plans  as  soon  as  I 
was  gone.  He  would  have  done  his  best  to  re 
create  for  my  family  the  conditions  of  the  old 
America  which  made  "three  generations  from 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

shirt  sleeves  to  shirt  sleeves"  proverbial.  How 
fortunate  that  he  shouldered  the  blame  for 
Walter's  boyish  folly!  How  fortunate  that  I 
did  not  learn  it  at  a  time  when  I  might  have 
been  tempted  to  take  him  back!  I  was  indeed 
born  under  a  lucky  star. 

A  lucky  star!  And  yet  what  have  I  ever 
got  out  of  it? — I,  who  have  spent  my  life  in 
toil  and  sweat  without  a  moment's  rest  or  hap 
piness,  sacrificing  myself  to  my  future  genera 
tions.  Sometimes  I  look  at  all  these  great 
prizes  which  I  have  drawn  and  hold,  and  I 
wonder  whether  they  are  of  any  value,  after 
all.  But,  valuable  or  worthless,  it  was  they  or 
nothing,  for  what  else  is  there  beside  wealth 
and  power  and  position? 

Nothing ! 

•  ••••• 

It  is  curious  how  the  human  mind  works — 
curious  and  terrible.     Seven  months  after  my 
[273] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

wife's  death,  when  we  had  put  aside  the 
mourning  and  had  resumed  our  ordinary 
course  of  life,  I  suddenly  began  to  think  of 
her  as  I  was  shaving.  "I  wonder  what 
brought  her  into  my  mind?"  said  I  to  myself, 
and  I  decided  that  my  face  with  the  white 
stubble  on  its  ridges  had  suggested  my  fa 
miliar  black  devil — "the  end."  But  one  day 
several  months  later,  as  I  was  driving  from 
my  office  to  lunch  at  a  directors'  meeting,  I 
happened  to  notice  the  lower  part  of  my  face 
in  the  small  mirror  in  the  brougham. 

My  attention  became  riveted  upon  the  line 
of  my  mouth,  thin  and  firm  and  straight — 
with  a  queer  sudden  downward  dip  at  the  left 
corner. 

"Strange!"  said  I  to  myself;  "I  never  no 
ticed  that  before." 

Then  I  remembered  I  had  noticed  it  be 
fore,  once  before  and  only  once — the  morn- 
[274] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

ing  when  I  was  shaving  and  thought  of  my 
wife  and  "the  end."  I  had  noticed  it  then  and 
—had  I  noticed  it  no  morning  since  because  it 
had  disappeared?  Or  had  it  been  there  all 
along,  and  had  my  mind  seen  it  and  hidden 
the  fact  from  me?  When  one  has  a  well- 
trained,  obedient  mind,  it  can  and  will  hide 
from  him  almost  anything  he  would  find  dis 
agreeable  or  inconvenient  to  know. 

I  tried  to  straighten  that  line,  but,  no  matter 
how  I  twisted  my  mouth,  the  drop  at  the  left 
corner  remained.  I  caught  sight  of  my  eyes 
in  the  mirror  and  found  myself  staring  into 
the  depth  of  a  Something  which  had  thus 
trapped  me  into  letting  it  mock  me.  When 
my  carriage  stopped  at  the  Postal  Telegraph 
Building,  I  was  so  weak  that  I  could  hardly 
drag  myself  across  the  sidewalk  and  into  the 
elevator.  As  I  was  shaving  the  next  morning 
I  dared  not  look  myself  in  the  eyes.  But  there 
[  275  ] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

was  the  droop,  and — yes — a  droop  of  the  left 
eyelid!  I  gave  an  involuntary  cry — the  razor 
cut  me,  and  dropped  to  the  floor.  My  valet 
rushed  in.  "I — I  only  cut  myself,"  I  stam 
mered,  apologetically.  For  the  first  time  in 
my  life  I  was  afraid  of  a  human  being,  from 
pure  terror  of  what  he  might  see  and  think. 

How  I  have  suffered  in  the  three  weeks  that 
have  passed  since  then!  Day  and  night,  mo 
ment  by  moment,  almost  second  by  second,  I 
find  myself  listening  for  a  footstep.  Now  I 
fancy  I  hear  it,  and  the  icy  sweat  bursts  from 
every  pore ;  now  I  realise  that  I  only  imagined 
those  stealthy,  shuffling,  hideously  creeping 
sounds  coming  along  the  floor  toward  me  from 
behind,  and  I  give  a  gasp  of  relief. 

What  a  mockery  it  all  is!    What  a  fool's  life 

I  have  led!    When  I  am  not  listening,  I  am 

fiercely  hating  these  people  round  me.     They 

are   listening,   too  —  listening   eagerly  —  yes, 

[276] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

even  my  own  children.  I  can  see  from  their 
furtive  glances  into  my  face  that  they,  too, 
have  seen  the  droop  in  the  line  that  was 
straight,  the  growing  weakness  in  the  eye  that 
never  quailed.  It  is  frightful,  this  being  gen 
tly  waited  on  and  soothingly  spoken  to  and 
patiently  borne  with — as  his  gaolers  treat  a 
man  who  is  to  be  shot  or  hanged  next  sunrise. 

Yet  I  dare  not  resent  it.  I  can  only  cower 
and  suffer. 

My  crown  is  slipping  from  me.    No,  worse 

—it  is  I  that  am  slipping  from  it.    It  remains ; 

I,  its  master,  must  go.     I — its  master?    How 

it  has  tricked  me!    I  have  been  its  slave;  it  is 

weary  of  me ;  it  is  about  to  cast  me  off. 

It  has  been  years  since  any  one  has  said 
"must"  to  me.  I  had  forgotten  what  a  hideous 
word  it  is.  And  if  one  cannot  resent  it,  cannot 
resist  it!  All  to  whom  I  have  said  "must"  are 
revenged. 

[277] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

Every  night  for  a  week  I  have  cried  like  a 
child.  I  put  my  handkerchief  under  my  head 
to  prevent  the  tears  from  wilting  my  pillow 
and  revealing  my  secret  to  them  as  they  keep 
the  death-watch  on  me.  Last  night  I  groaned 
so  loudly  that  my  valet  rushed  in,  turned  on 
the  electric  lights,  and  drew  back  the  curtains 
of  my  bed.  When  he  saw  me  blazing  at  him 
in  fury,  he  shrank  and  stammered:  "Oh,  sir, 
I  thought " 

"Get  out!"  I  shrieked. 

I  knew  only  too  well  what  he  thought. 

On  the  following  day — or  was  it  the  second 
day? — Gunderson  Kuyper  came  to  see  me. 
Deaths  in  my  family  and  in  his,  and  other  mat 
ters,  chiefly — at  least  so  I  had  imagined — my 
unwillingness  to  have  Helen  go  away  for  a 
wedding  trip,  had  delayed  the  marriage  of  my 
daughter  and  his  son.  Then,  too,  there  had 
[278] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

been  some  attempt  on  the  part  of  his  lawyer 
to  find  out  my  intentions  in  the  matter  of  an 
allowance  for  Helen.  But,  feeling  that  this 
was  a  true  love  match  which  ought  not  to  be 
spoiled  by  any  intrusion  of  the  material  and 
the  business-like,  I  had  waved  the  lawyer  off 
with  some  vague  politeness. 

I  was  completely  taken  by  surprise  when, 
with  an  exceedingly  small  amount  of  hem 
ming  and  hawing  for  so  aristocratic  a  despiser 
of  commercialism  as  Gunderson  Kuyper,  he 
flatly  demanded  a  joint  settlement  of  five  mill 
ions  on  his  son  and  Helen! 

It  was  particularly  important  that  I  should 
not  be  excited.  The  doctors  had  warned  me 
that  rage  would  probably  be  fatal.  But  in 
spite  of  this  I  could  not  wholly  conceal  my 
agitation.  "You  will  have  to  excuse  me,  Mr. 
Kuyper,"  said  I.  "You  see  what  a  nervous 
state  I  am  in.  Discussion  about  business 
[279] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

would  be  highly  dangerous.  I  can  only  assure 
you  that,  as  Helen  is  my  favourite  child,  she 
and,  of  course,  her  husband  will  be  amply  pro 
vided  for.  I  must  beg  you  not  to  continue  the 
subject." 

"I  understand.  I  am  sincerely  sorry."  The 
oily  scoundrel  spoke  in  tones  of  the  most  deli 
cate  sympathy.  "We  will  postpone  the  mar 
riage  until  your  health  is  such  that  you  are 
able  to  discuss  it."  He  rose  and  came  toward 
me  to  take  leave. 

"Instead    of    quieting    my    agitation,    you 
have  aggravated  it,"  I  said.     "These  young 
people  have  their  hearts  set  on  each  other— 
at  least  I  have  been  led  to  believe  that  your 
son " 

"And  you  are  right,  my  dear  Galloway,"  he 

said — he  patronises  me,  drops  the  "Mr."  in 

addressing  me,  and  makes  me  feel  too  distant 

with  him  to  drop  it  in  return.    "But  as  my  son 

[280] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

has  less  than  fifteen  thousand  a  year,  he  could 
not  think  of  marriage  with  a  woman  brought 
up  as  your  daughter  has  been — unless  there 
were  assurance  of  some  further  income.  I  am 
not  in  a  position  to  make  him  an  adequate 
allowance — I  can  only  double  his  present  in 
come.  He  will,  of  course,  inherit  a  con 
siderable  fortune  at  my  death.  But  I  feel 
it  is  only  just  that  you  should  do  your 
share  toward  properly  establishing  the  new 
family." 

"I  shall,  I  shall,"  I  said,  feebly,  trying  to 
make  him  see  how  unfit  I  was  for  such  a  dis 
cussion.  "Let  them  marry.  Everything  shall 
be  looked  after.  Only  leave  me  in  peace.  Do 
not  disturb  me  with  these  mercenary— 

That  word  must  have  angered  him,  for  his 
face  whitened,  and  he  said,  with  suppressed 
fury:  "It  is  perfectly  well  known,  Mr.  Gallo 
way,  that  you  made  no  provision  whatever  for 
[281] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

your  other  children,  and  that  you  keep  your 
son  on  a  beggarly  allowance,  considering  your 
fortune  and  the  social  station  which  you  are 
struggling  to  maintain.  You  have  given  your 
elder  daughter  nothing.  I  speak  plainly,  sir, 
because  your  dealings  with  your  children  and 
with  Mr.  Bradish's  daughter  are  matters  of 
common  gossip.  I  will  permit  no  evasion,  no 
screening  behind  illness.  I  must  speak  the 
only  language  you  understand.  It  is  a  matter 
of  indifference  to  us— 

"I  had  no  idea  the  Kuypers  were  so — so 
thrifty,"  said  I,  myself  in  a  fury  at  this  vulgar 
and  insulting  tirade. 

"As  I  was  saying,"  he  went  on,  "it  is  a  mat 
ter  of  indifference  to  us  whether  my  son  mar 
ries  your  daughter  or  note.  His  mother  and 
I  consented  only  after  he  had  made  it  plain 
to  us  that  his  happiness  was  involved.  My 
consent  was  conditioned  on  your  acting 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

the   part   of   an   honourable   and   considerate 
father." 

"Our  conceptions  of  a  parent  are  evidently 
as  wide  apart  as  our  conceptions  of  the  feeling 
a  young  man  should  entertain  toward  a  young 
woman  he  purposes  to  marry,"  said  I.  "Your 
demand  for  five  millions  is  preposterous.  The 
honour  of  marrying  my  daughter  should  he- 
shall  be — sufficient  for  your  son — if  I  permit 
the  marriage  to  go  on." 

"Very    well,    sir.      You    may    keep    your 
daughter  and  your  ill-got  millions." 

"Strange  that   ill-got  wealth  should  have 
such  a  fascination  for  you!" 

"Everything  is  purified  by  passing  to  inno 
cent  hands,"  he  replied.  "But — enough!  I 
am  ashamed  that  my  temper  should  have  de 
graded  me  to  such  a  controversy  with  such  a 
man.  The  longer  we  have  had  this  matter 
under  advisement  the  more  nauseating  it  has 
[283] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

become.  I  might  have  known  that  nothing 
but  humiliation  would  result  from  even  consid 
ering  an  alliance  with  a  family  whose  head  is 
notorious  throughout  the  length  and  breadth 
of  this  land  for  chicanery,  for  impudent  dis 
honesty,  for  theft— 

I  heard  no  more.  I  was  now  dimly  con 
scious  that  his  purpose  throughout  had  been, 
after  a  perfunctory  attempt  to  arrange  a  set 
tlement,  to  provoke  a  quarrel  that  would  make 
the  marriage  impossible.  At  his  last  words  I 
felt  a  pain  shoot  from  my  brain  throughout 
my  body — a  pain  so  frightful  that  I  straight 
way  lost  consciousness. 

At  last  my  stealthy,  shuffling,  creeping  ene 
my  had  stolen  up  behind  me  and  had  struck 
me  down. 

When  I  came  to  myself  on  the  third  day, 
Helen  was  there.  "Poor  child!"  I  said,  "your 
dream  is  over,  but— 

[284] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

"No!    No!"  she  protested. 

"Yes — I  know  your  heart  was  set  on  that 
young  fellow." 

"Everything  is  all  right  now  that  you  are 
getting  well,"  she  replied,  and  would  not  let 
me  say  anything  more. 

.  In  two  weeks  I  was  well  enough  to  go  about 
again  as  before.  I  found  that  Delamotte  had 
defied  his  father  and  was  only  waiting  for  me 
to  consent.  For  Helen's  sake,  I  yielded. 
Why  blame  the  boy?  Why  make  my  child 
wretched?  Let  them  have  the  chance  I  never 
had.  Or,  did  I  have  it  and  throw  it  away? 
No  matter.  To  sacrifice  them  to  revenge 
would  be  petty. 

Petty!  What  is  not  petty  to  me,  seated  in 
front  of  The  Great  Fact? 

I  must  rearrange  my  will  properly  to  pro 
vide  for  Helen. 

How  small  and  repulsive  it  all  is  to  me! — 
[285] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

all  that  has  seemed  so  stupendous  these  forty 
years.  I  am  worn  out.  If  I  have  not  the 
courage  to  die,  still  less  have  I  the  courage  to 
go  on — or  the  interest.  I  want  rest. 

They  tell  me — what  they  always  tell  a  man 
in  my  straits.  But  they  know  better — and  so 
do  I! 

Nor  do  I  care. 


Too  late!  Too  late!  For  now,  not  the 
poorest,  greediest  pedlar  that  cheats  in  rags 
for  rags  at  the  area-gate  would  change  places 
with  me. 

Oh,  vanity,  how  you  have  swindled  me! 

No  doubt  they  think  my  mind  is  stunned. 
I  have  seen  other  men  of  my  class  stricken  as 
I  am.  I  have  watched  them  in  this  frightful 
wait  for  the  shaft  they  knew  death  had  aimed 
and  would  not  long  delay.  I  know  now  why 
[286] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

their  eyes  were  dull,  why  their  ears  seemed  not 

to  hear.     I  know  what  they  were  thinking 

about.     For,  hour  after  hour,  I  t< 

(Here  the  manuscript  ends) 


[287] 


POSTSCRIPT 

On  the  second  day  after  James  Galloway's 
death,  his  eldest  and  outcast  son  called  at  the 
Galloway  palace  and  asked  for  his  brother 
Walter.  Presently  Walter,  in  dress  and 
manner  an  ideal  chief  mourner  and  chief 
beneficiary,  came  down  to  him  in  the  library. 
The  dead  man  lay  in  a  magnificent  casket  in 
the  adjoining  ball-room,  which  was  half  full 
of  funeral  flowers.  They  were  scenting  the 
whole  house  with  stifling,  suffocating  per 
fume,  sweet  yet  sickening. 

"You  came  to  see — father?"  said  Walter. 

"No,"  replied  James.     "I  do  not  wish  to 

be  reminded.     I  am  trying  to  forgive  him." 

Then  he  looked  into  his  brother's  eyes  with  the 

keen,  frank  glance  that  is  one  of  his  many 

[288] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

charms.     "I've  come  to  see  you,  to  ask  you 
what  you  intend  to  do  about  the  will." 

Walter's  eyes  shifted.  "I  don't  understand 
you,"  he  answered. 

"I  mean — do  you  intend  to  break  it?" 

There  was  a  long  silence.  Walter's  upper 
lip,  in  spite  of  his  efforts  to  control  it,  was 
twitching  nervously.  At  length  he  said:  "He 
is  gone.  It  is  his  will.  It  contains  his — life 
ambition.  I  think  it  would  be  wrong  not  to 
respect  it."  He  looked  at  his  brother  appeal- 
ingly. 

"Then  I  must  warn  you  that,  unless  you 
break  it  and  divide  everything  equally  among 
his  heirs,  I  shall  make  a  contest." 

"But  you  consented,  Jim!"  pleaded  Walter, 
recovering  from  his  stupor. 

"Consented— to  what?" 

"To — to  my  staying — where  I  was." 

"While   he   lived.      I    said   nothing   about 
[289] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

afterward.  If  you  won't  break  the  will,  I 
shall.  It  will  be  easy  enough.  I  can  prove  he 
made  it  in  the  belief  that  I  had  forged  his 
name.  I  can  prove — that — I  didn't." 

"But  you  know,  Jim,  he  heard  the  truth 
years  before  he  died." 

James  smiled  cynically.  "How  do  I  know 
it?" 

"I  told  you  that  mother  told  him  on  her 
death-bed." 

"Would  any  jury  believe  you,  or  believe 
that  I  believed  you?" 

Walter  flushed  and  looked  indignantly  at 
his  brother.  "You  offered  to  shield  me 
for  what  I  did  when  I  was  a  boy.  I  was 
younger  than  you — hardly  more  than  a  child. 
Now  you  want  to  punish  me  after  making 
me  accept  your  offer.  It  ain't  like  you, 
Jim!" 

"More  like  father,  ain't  it?"  said  James, 
[290] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

sadly.  "But — I  can't  do  otherwise,  Walt. 
I'm  only  helping  you  to  do  what's  just— 
what's  merely  decent." 

"You  are  trying  to  destroy  our  father's  life- 
work!" 

"No — not  his  life-work.  I  can't  do  that.  I 
wish  I  could.  I  wish  I  could  destroy  it  even 
in  myself.  No,  all  I  can  hope  to  do  is  to  para 
lyse  his  dead  hand — that  awful  hand  he  has 
plotted  to  keep  on  ruling  and  ruining  with  for 
generations.  And  I  will!" 

"You  sha'n't  do  it,  Jim  Galloway!"  ex 
claimed  Walter,  in  a  burst  of  fury.  He  stood 
and  waved  his  arms  in  a  gesture  as  weak  as  it 
was  wild.  "I  won't  let  you.  I  won't  be 
cheated.  I  won't!  I  won't!" 

"Let's  send  for  your  wife  and  see  what  she 
thinks,"  said  James. 

Walter    gasped    and    sank    into   his   chair. 
"No!"  he  muttered.    "This  is  between  you  and 
[291] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

me."  Then,  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  he  added: 
"You  ought  to  be  ashamed  to  take  advantage 
of  me.  And  after  letting  me  alone  and  letting 
me  get  used  to  the  idea!  I  didn't  think  you 
were  mean  and  a  coward." 

"I  admit  I'm  doing  right  in  the  wrong  way 
— but  it's  the  only  way  open  to  me.  The  will 
must  be  broken."  James  rose  to  go.  "Don't 
let's  quarrel,  Walter.  You  know  what's  hon 
est  and  right;  I've  told  you  what  I  shall  do. 
Think  it  over.  Talk  it  over  with  your  wife. 
Either  keep  your  equal  share,  and  devote  the 
rest  to  a  memorial  to  mother — colleges,  hos 
pitals — anything — or  else  divide  all  equally 
among  us  four.  Be  sensible,  Walt — think 
what  a  hell  his  money  and  his  ideas  made  for 
himself  and  for  the  rest  of  us.  If  you  get 
only  your  equal  share,  you'll  have  hard  enough 
work  keeping  from  not  being  like — him.  Be 
sensible,  Walt — and  be  decent!" 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

And  he  left  the  room  and  the  house;  and  a 
huge  wave  of  that  suffocating-sweet  perfume 
of  funeral  flowers  poured  out  through  the 
opened  street-door  after  him  as  if  to  over 
whelm  him — like  subtle  hate  on  stealthy  mur 
der  bent. 

That  same  afternoon  the  will  was  opened. 
There  were  legacies  of  ten  millions  to  Walter 
and  to  Aurora,  and  of  two  millions  to  James's 
children.  The  rest  of  the  estate,  seventy  mill 
ions,  was  left  unconditionally — to  Helen. 
The  will  was  just  one  month  old. 

Walter  was  beaten  in  a  long  contest  to  have 
it  set  aside,  and  have  the  estate  equally  divided 
among  the  heirs.  The  lawyers  got  five  mill 
ions.  When  Helen  was  finally  victorious,  she 
devoted  all,  except  eight  millions  for  James 
and  ten  millions  for  Delamotte  and  herself,  to 
the  magnificent  endowment  of  her  father's 
various  public  enterprises.  The  huge  palace 
[  293] 


THE    MASTER    ROGUE 

she  made  over  into  the  "James  Galloway  Me 
morial  Museum  of  Art." 

"I  only  carried  out  his  real  will,"  she  said, 
"for  he  was  one  of  the  noblest  men  that  ever 
lived — and  nobody  understood  him  but  me." 


THE   END 


[294] 


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Author  of  "  The  Sowers,"  etc. 

BARLASCH  OF  THE  GUARD 

r 

L  HE  story  is  set  in  those  desperate  days  when 
the  ebbing  tide  of  Napoleon's  fortunes  swept 
Europe  with  desolation.  Barlasch  —  "  Papa 
Barlasch  of  the  Guard,  Italy,  Egypt,  the  Dan 
ube  "  —  a  veteran  in  the  Little  Corporal's  service 
—  is  the  dominant  figure  of  the  story.  Quar 
tered  on  a  distinguished  family  in  the  historic 
town  of  Dantzig,  he  gives  his  life  to  the  romance 
of  Desiree,  the  daughter  of  the  family,  and  Louis 
d1  Arragon,  whose  cousin  she  has  married  and 
parted  with  at  the  church  door.  Louis's  search 
with  Barlasch  for  the  missing  Charles  gives  an 
unforgettable  picture  of  the  terrible  retreat  from 
Russia  ;  and  as  a  companion  picture  there  is  the 
heroic  defence  of  Dantzig  by  Rapp  and  his  little 
army  of  sick  and  starving.  At  the  last  Bar 
lasch,  learning  of  the  death  of  Charles,  plans 
and  executes  the  escape  of  Desiree  from  the 
beleaguered  town  to  join  Louis. 
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THE  REIGN  OF  QUEEN  ISYL 


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is  both  a  novel  and  a  collection  of  short  stories. 
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Maid  of  Honor  is  crowned  in  her  stead  —  Queen 
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is  tantalized  by  glimpses  of  the  genuine  mystery 
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only  in  the  quaintly  romantic  atmosphere  of  mod 
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fact  that  in  every  chapter  one  of  the  characters 
relates  an  anecdote.  Each  anecdote  is  a  short 
story  of  the  liveliest  and  most  amusing  kind- 
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to  the  main  romance  and  its  characters.  The 
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novel  of  which  they  form  a  part. 

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THE  I.ONG  NIGHT 

r 

GrENEVA  in  the  early  days  of  the  1  7th  century; 
a  ruffling  young  theologue  new  to  the  city  ;  a 
beautiful  and  innocent  girl,  suspected  of  witch 
craft  ;  a  crafty  scholar  and  metaphysician  seeking 
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illness  ;  a  brutal  soldier  of  fortune  ;  these  are  the 
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Claude  Mercier,  the  student,  seeing  the  plot  in 
which  the  girl  he  loves  is  involved,  yet  helpless 
to  divulge  it,  finds  at  last  his  opportunity  when 
the  treacherous  men  of  Savoy  are  admitted  within 
Geneva's  walls,  and  in  a  night  of  whirlwind  fight 
ing  saves  the  city  by  his  courage  and  address. 
For  fire  and  spirit  there  are  few  chapters  in 
modern  literature  such  as  those  which  picture  the 
splendid  defence  of  Geneva,  by  the  staid,  churchly, 
heroic  burghers,  fighting  in  their  own  blood  under 
the  divided  leadership  of  the  fat  Syndic,  Baudi- 
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campaigns.  In  Venice  he  has  an  interesting 
romantic  escapade  which  causes  him  the  loss  of 
an  ear.  With  the  utmost  bravery  and  cunning 
he  captures  the  Spanish  city  of  Saragossa  ;  in 
Portugal  he  saves  the  army  ;  in  Russia  he  feeds 
the  starving  soldiers  by  supplies  obtained  at 
Minsk,  after  a  wonderful  ride.  Everwhere  else 
he  is  just  as  marvelous,  and  at  Waterloo  he  is  the 
center  of  the  whole  battle. 

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soul  and  a  remarkably  vivid  story-teller. 

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the  far  East,  who,  in  his  love  for  a  young  girl, 
confesses  that  he  has  once  been  driven  to  canni 
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side,  marries  a  girl  there  ;  and  of  his  tragic  efforts 
to  make  himself  a  real  member  of  the  brutally 
clannish  little  community.  "  To-morrow  "  is  the 
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MY  FRIEND  PROSPERO 

r    •       |    I 

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and  charm  with  which  it  is  written,  by  the  de 
lightful  characters  that  take  part  in  it,  and  by 
the  interest  of  the  plot.  The  scene  is  laid  in 
a  magnificent  Austrian  castle  in  North  Italy, 
and  that  serves  as  a  background  for  the  work 
ing  out  of  a  sparkling  love-story  between  a 
heroine  who  is  brilliant  and  beautiful  and  a 
hero  who  is  quite  her  match  in  cleverness  and 
wit.  It  is  a  book  with  all  the  daintiness  and 
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roundings  of  her  youth,  marries  a  man  who  fas 
cinates  her  by  his  difference  from  the  people 
whom  she  already  knows.  He,  however,  is  a 
shallow  and  selfish  man,  who  has  very  little  ap 
preciation  of  his  wife's  need  for  self-expression ; 
it  turns  out  that  he  is  even  worse  than  this,  how 
ever,  and  that  he  has  been  married  before  to  a 
woman  considerably  below  him,  wrho,  when  he  had 
believed  her  dead,  turns  up  and  drives  him  from 
England.  The  heroine,  then  a  wife,  yet  not  a 
wife,  turns  to  her  art  as  a  painter  for  that  "  Rose 
of  Joy"  which  had  been  denied  her  as  a  child  or 
as  a  married  woman.  Miss  Find  later  has  many 
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charmingly  told  love-episode.  "  All  the  world 
loves  a  lover,"  and  all  the  world  has  here 
choice  from  among  a  very  wide  and  varied 
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J.  HIS  story  of  a,  blind  girl  has  a  wholesome 
charm  like  that  of  Miss  Yonge's  works.  The 
heroine  is  a  little  girl  when  we  first  meet  her, 
but  she  is  a  young  woman  and  has  been 
through  many  varied  experiences  when  we 
leave  her  at  last  in  a  happy  home,  and  full  of 
the  joy  of  life.  Blindness  seems  here  to  be  a 
thing  that  is  inconvenient  and  sometimes  dan 
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but  its  tragedy  is  so  little  emphasized  that  the 
reader's  svmpathies  are  drawn  out  without  ever 
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IN  BABEL 

r 

J.  HESE  are  short  stories,  brief  little  hammer- 
stroke  stories,  just  long  enough  to  hit  the  nail 
upon  the  head.  Mr.  Ade's  "  Babel "  is  Chicago, 
and  the  scenes  of  the  stories  are  laid  in  familiar 
and  unfamiliar  quarters  of  that  rushing  Western 
metropolis.  It  is  a  book  about  the  real  joys 
and  sorrows  of  real  people,  written  in  pure 
English  by  the  great  master  of  American  slang, 
whose  quaint  philosophy  %  and  humor  have 
ranked  him  among  America's  most  character 
istic  writers. 

The  stories  deal  with  the  upper,  the  middle, 
and  the  under  classes,  and  show  in  both  pa 
thetic  and  humorous  light  the  happenings  in 
the  fashionable  circles  upon  the  Lake  front,  as 
well  as  among  the  Irish  and  Italian  emigrants 
in  the  squalid  quarters  of  the  city. 

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&  Co* 


.  Crocfeett 


Author  of  " The  Banner  of  Blue,"  "  The  Firebrand" 

FLOWER  O'  THE  CORN 

r 

MR.  CROCKETT  has  made  an  interesting 
novel  of  romance  and  intrigue.  He  has  chosen 
a  little  town  in  the  south  of  France,  high  up 
in  the  mountains,  as  the  scene  for  his  drama. 
The  plot  deals  with  a  group  of  Calvinists  who 
have  been  driven  from  Belgium  into  southern 
France,  where  they  are  besieged  in  their  moun 
tain  fastness  by  the  French  troops.  A  number 
of  historical  characters  figure  in  the  book, 
among  them  Madame  de  Maintenon. 
"  Flower  o1  the  Corn  "  is  probably  one  of  Mr. 
Crockett's  most  delightful  women  characters. 
The  book  is  notable  for  its  fine  descriptions. 

Cloth,  12mo  $1.50 


&  Co, 


THE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  SANTA  CRUZ 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  DATE  stamped  below. 


INTERLIBRARY  LOAN  SERVICE 
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UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
SANTA  CriUZ,   CALIFORNIA  950^0 


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3  2106  00213  7120 


